BS  2785  .C297 

Carpenter,  W.  Boyd 

The  wisdom  of  James  the  Just 


THE  WISDOM   OF 
JAMES  THE  JUST 


THE    WISDOM    OF 
JAMES  THE  JUST 


BY 

THE  RIGHT  REV. 

W.  BOYD  CARPENTER  D.D. 

HON.   D.C.L.  OXON.   LORD  BISHOP  OF  RIPON 


NEW  YORK 
THOMAS   WHITTAKER 

2  &=  3   BIBLE   HOUSE 
1903 


Printed  by  Ballantvnb,  Hanson  &*  Co. 
London  ^r'  Edinburgh 


PREFACE 

Wise  men  have  often  told  us  of  the  snares  of 
desultory  reading.  The  mental  discipline  which 
accompanies  continuous  study  is  missed  by  those 
who  wander  from  book  to  book.  There  may  be, 
and  there  doubtless  is,  profit  in  wide  and  diver- 
sified reading,  but  it  is  seldom  a  profit,  except  to 
those  who  have  trained  the  mind  by  systematic 
study.  The  Bible,  like  every  other  book,  is 
only  read  with  fullest  advantage  when  it  is 
studied  systematically,  i.e.,  book  by  book.  I 
fear  that  Bible  reading  is  too  often  the  reading 
of  detached  texts,  or  of  favourite  and  perhaps 
isolated  passages.  Choice  extracts  are  well  enough 
in  their  way,  but  they  can  never  take  the  place  of 
complete  works  ;  and  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
as  a  man  does  not  know  literature  who  only 
knows  a   few    **  gems "   as    they   are   called,    so 


vi  PREFACE 

he   does  not    know  his    Bible   who   only   knows 
a  few  texts. 

In  the  present  da}',  more  than  in  any  past  days, 
the  study  of  the  Books  of  the  Bible  is  needful. 
Only  by  such  study  can  we  appreciate  the 
continuous  and  growing  message  of  God's  spirit 
in  the  Bible.  Moved  b}'  this  conviction,  let  us 
study  one  book  of  the  Bible — the  Epistle  of 
St.  James.  In  doing  so,  we  take  up  a  book, 
which  is  not  an  elaborate  treatise,  nor  an  intricate 
history ;  it  needs  no  long  preliminar}'  study  :  it  is 
a  frank,  simple  and  earnest  letter,  addressed  to  his 
friends  by  a  man  of  good  and  strong  character. 

The  Revised  Version  of  the  Epistle  is  printed 
here  by  permission  of  the  University  Presses. 

W.  B.  RiPON. 

RiPON,  November  1902. 

P.S. — In  my  stud}'  of  this  book  I  have  been 
helped  by  many,  but  by  none  more  than  by  Pro- 
fessor Joseph  B.  Mayor,  whom  I  desire  to  thank 
for  many  happy  and  profitable  hours. 

W.  B.  R. 


CONTENTS 

PART   I 
THE   LETTER   AND   THE   MAN 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  The  Self-revelation  of  the  Writer         .  3 

II.  His  Philosophy  of  Life        ....  23 

III.  His  Thoughts  about  God     ....  43 

IV.  The  Writer  and  Those  to  Whom  He  wrote  61 


PART   II 
THE   LETTER 

I.  Life  as  Education 77 

II.  The  Co-operation  of  Inward  and  Outward 

Forces  in  Spiritual  Development       .     104 

III.  The  Conflict  for  Ideals     ....     119 

IV.  Character  Revealed  in  Conduct       .        .     138 
V.  Respect  of  Persons  and  Self-respect      .     156 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

VI.  Faith  and  Works 
VII.  True  Wisdom 
VIII.  Passion  and  Prayer    . 

IX.  Rule  through  Obedience, 
X.  Against  Presumption  . 

XI.  Patience  in  Spirit  and  in  Word 
XII.  God  and  Brotherliness    . 


PAGE 
176 

210 

241 


THE  GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF 

JAMES 

James,  a  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  1 
Christ,  to  the  twelve  tribes  which  are  of  the  Dis- 
persion, greeting. 

Count  it  all  joy,  my  brethren,  when  ye  fall  into  2 
manifold  temptations  ;  knowing  that  the  proof  of  3 
your   faith   worketh    patience.     And  let  patience  4 
have  its  perfect  work,  that  ye  may  be  perfect  and 
entire,  lacking  in  nothing. 

But  if  any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom,  let  him  ask  5 
of  God,  who  giveth  to  all  liberally  and  upbraideth 
not ;  and  it  shall  be  given  him.    But  let  him  ask  in  6 
faith,  nothing  doubting :  for  he  that  doubteth  is 
like  the  surge  of  the  sea  driven  by  the  wind  and   7 
tossed.     For  let  not  that  man  think  that  he  shall 
receive  anything  of   the  Lord ;  a  doubleminded    8 
man,  unstable  in  all  his  ways. 

But  let  the  brother  of  low  degree  glory  in  his  9 


X  GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES 

10  high  estate :  and  the  rich,  in  that  he  is  made  low  : 
because  as  the  flower  of  the  grass  he  shall  pass 

11  away.  For  the  sun  ariseth  with  the  scorching 
wind,  and  withereth  the  grass ;  and  the  flower 
thereof  falleth,  and  the  grace  of  the  fashion  of  it 
perisheth :  so  also  shall  the  rich  man  fade  away 
in  his  goings, 

1 2  Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation  : 
for  when  he  hath  been  approved,  he  shall  receive 
the  crown  of  life,  which  tJic  Z.orrt' promised  to  them 

1 3  that  love  him.  Let  no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted, 
I  am  tempted  of  God  :  for  God  cannot  be  tempted 

14  with  evil,  and  he  himself  tempteth  no  man:  but 
each  man  is  tempted,  when  he  is  drawn  away  by 

15  his  own  lust,  and  enticed.  Then  the  lust,  when  it 
hath  conceived,  beareth  sin  :  and  the  sin,  when  it 

16  is  full-grown,   bringeth  forth  death.     Be  not  de- 

17  ceived,  my  beloved  brethren.  Every  good  gift  and 
ever}'  perfect  boon  is  from  above,  coming  down 
from  the  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  can  be  no 
variation,  neither  shadow  that  is  cast  by  turning. 

18  Of  his  own  will  he  brought  us  forth  by  the  word 
of  truth,  that  we  should  be  a  kind  of  firstfruits  of 
his  creatures. 

19  Ye  know  this^   my  beloved   brethren.     But  let 


GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES  xi 

every  man  be  swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak,  slow  to 
wrath  :    for   the   wrath  of  man    worketh  not  the  20 
righteousness  of  God.     Wherefore  putting  away   21 
all  filthiness  and  overflowing  of  wickedness,  re- 
ceive with  meekness  the  implanted  word,  which  is 
able  to  save  your  souls.     But  be  ye  doers  of  the   22 
word,  and  not  hearers  only,  deluding  your  own 
selves.     For  if  any  one  is  a  hearer  of  the  word,   23 
and  not  a  doer,  he  is  like  unto  a  man  beholding  his 
natural  face  in  a  mirror  :  for  he  beholdeth  himself,  24 
and  goeth  away,  and  straightway  forgetteth  what 
manner  of  man  he  was.     But  he  that  looketh  into   25 
the  perfect  law,  the  law  of  liberty,  and  so  con- 
tinueth,  being  not  a  hearer  that  forgetteth,  but  a 
doer  that  worketh,  this  man  shall  be  blessed  in  his 
doing.  If  any  man  thinketh  himself  to  be  religious,   26 
while  he  bridleth  not  his  tongue  but  deceiveth  his 
heart,  this  man's  religion  is  vain.  Pure  religion  and  27 
undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father  is  this,  to  visit 
the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and 
to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world. 

My  brethren,  hold  not  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  2 
Christ,  the  Lord  of  glory,  with  respect  of  persons. 
For  if  there  come  into  your  synagogue  a  man  with   2 
a  gold  ring,  in  fine  clothing,  and  there  come  in  also 


xii  GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES 

2  3  a  poor  man  in  vile  clothing ;  and  ye  have  regard 
to  him  that  weareth  the  fine  clothing,  and  say,  Sit 
thou  here  in  a  good  place ;  and  ye  say  to  the  poor 
man,  Stand  thou  there,  or  sit  under  my  footstool ; 

4  are  ye  not  divided  in  your  own  mind,  and  become 

5  judges  with  evil  thoughts  ?  Hearken,  my  beloved 
brethren  ;  did  not  God  choose  them  that  are  poor 
as  to  the  world  to  be  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the 
kingdom  which  he  promised  to  them  that  love  him? 

6  But  ye  have  dishonoured  the  poor  man.  Do  not 
the  rich    oppress  you,  and  themselves  drag  you 

7  before  the  judgment-seats?  Do  not  they  blas- 
pheme the  honourable  name  by  the  which  ye  are 

8  called  ?  Howbeit  if  ye  fulfil  the  royal  law,  accord- 
ing to  the  scripture,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 

g  as  thyself,  j^e  do  well :  but  if  ye  have  respect  of 
persons,  ye  commit  sin,  being  convicted  by  the  law 

10  as  transgressors.     For  whosoever  shall  keep  the 
whole  law,  and  yet  stumble  in  one  pointy  he  is 

1 1  become  guilty  of  all.     For  he  that  said,  Do  not 
commit  adultery,  said  also,  Do  not  kill.     Now  i 
thou  dost  not  commit  adultery,  but  killest,  thou  art 

1 2  become  a  transgressor  of  the  law.     So  speak  ye, 
and  so  do,  as  men  that  are  to  be  judged  by  a  law 

1 3  of  liberty.     For  judgement  is  without  mercy  to  him 


GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES         xiii 

that  hath  shewed  no  mercy :  mercy  glorieth  against         2 
judgement. 

What  doth  it  profit,  my  brethren,  if  a  man  say    14 
he  hath  faith,  but  have  not  worlds  ?  can  that  faith 
save  him?     If  a  brother  or  sister  be  naked,  and    15 
in  lack  of  daily  food,  and  one  of  you  say  unto   1 6 
them,  Go  in  peace,  be  ye  warmed  and  filled ;  and 
yet  ye  give  them  not  the  things  needful  to  the 
body ;  what  doth   it  profit  ?     Even  so  faith,  if  it   ^  7 
have  not  works,  is  dead  in  itself.    Yea,  a  man  will   18 
say,  Thou  hast  faith,  and  I  have  works  :  shew  me 
thy  faith  apart  from  Ihy  works,  and  I  by  my  works 
will  shew  thee  my  faith.     Thou  believest  that  God   19 
is  one ;  thou  doest  well :  the  devils  also  believe, 
and  shudder.     But  wilt  thou  know,  O  vain  man,    20 
that  faith  apart  from  works  is  barren  ?     Was  not   2 1 
Abraham  our  father  justified  by  works,  in  that  he 
offered  up  Isaac  his  son  upon  the  altar?     Thou   22 
seest  that  faith  wrought  with  his  works,  and  by 
works  was  faith  made  perfect;  and  the  scripture  23 
was  fulfilled  which  saith,  And  Abraham  believed 
God,  and  it  was  reckoned  unto  him  for  righteous- 
ness ;  and  he  was  called  the  friend  of  God.     Ye  24 
see  that  by  works  a  man  is  justified,  and  not  only 
by  faith.     And  in  like  manner  was  not  also  Rahab  2  5 


xiv         GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES 

2  the  harlot  justified  by  works,  in  that  she  received 

the  messengers,  and  sent  them  out  another  way  ? 
-^  For  as  the  body  apart  from  the  spirit  is  dead,  even 
so  faith  apart  from  works  is  dead. 

3       Be  not  many  teachers,  my  brethren,   knowing 

2  that  we  shall  receive  heavier  judgement.  For  in 
many  things  we  all  stumble.  If  any  stumbleth 
not  in  word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man,  able  to 

•5  bridle  the  whole  body  also.  Now  if  we  put  the 
horses'  bridles  into  their  mouths,  that  the}'  may 
obey  us,   we  turn   about   their  whole  body  also. 

^  Behold,  the  ships  also,  though  they  are  so  great, 
and  are  driven  by  rough  winds,  are  yet  turned 
about  by  a  very  small  rudder,  whither  the  impulse 

5  of  the  steersman  willeth.  So  the  tongue  alsc  is  a 
little  member,  and  boasteth  great  things.  Benold, 
how  much  wood  is  kindled  by  how  small  a    re  ! 

6  And  the  tongue  is  a  fire:  the  world  of  iniquity 
among  our  members  is  the  tongue,  which  defilcth 
the  whole  body,  and  setteth  on  fire  the  wheel  of 

7  nature,  and  is  set  on  fire  by  hell.  For  every  kind 
of  beasts  and  birds,  of  creeping  things  and  things 
in  the  sea,  is  tamed,  and  hath  been  tamed  by  man- 

2  kind  :  but  the  tongue  can  no  man  tame ;  il  is  a 
9  restless  evil,  ti  is  full  of  deadly  poison.  Therewith 


GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES  xv 

bless  we  the  Lord  and  Father  ;  and  therewith  curse 
we  men,  which  are  made  after  the  likeness  of  God  ; 
out  of  the  same  mouth  cometh  forth  blessing  and 
cursing.     My  brethren,  these  things  ought  not  so   lo 
to  be.  Doth  the  fountain  send  forth  from  the  same   1 1 
opening  sweet  water  and  bitter  ?  can  a  fig-tree,  my   1 2 
brethren,  yield  olives,  or  a  vine  figs  ?  neither  can 
salt  water  yield  sweet. 

Who  is  wise  and  understanding  among  you?   13 
Let  him  shew  by  his  good  life  his  works  in  meek- 
ness of  wisdom.     But  if  ye  have  bitter  jealousy   14 
and  faction  in  your  heart,  glor}^  not  and  lie  not 
against  the  truth.     This  wisdom  is  not  a  ivisdom   15 
that  cometh  down  from  above,  but  is  earthly,  sen- 
sual,  devilish.     For  where  jealousy  and  faction    16 
are,  there  is  confusion  and  every  vile  deed.     But   17 
the  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  first  pure,  then 
peaceable,  gentle,  easy  to  be  intreated,  full  of  mercy 
and  good  fruits,  without  variance,  without  hypo- 
crisy.    And  the  fruit  of  righteousness  is  sown  in   18 
peace  for  them  that  make  peace. 

Whence  co])ie  wars  and  whence  come  fightings  4 
among  you  ?  conic  they  not  hence,  even  of  your 
pleasures  that  war  in  your  members  ?     Ye  lust,   2 
and   have  not  :    ye   kill,   and  to  covet,   and   can 

b 


xvi  GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES 

obtain  :  ye  fight  and  war ;  ye  have  not,  because  j^e 

3  ask  not.     Ye  ask,  and  receive  not,  because  ye  ask 

4  amiss,  that  ye  may  spend  /'/  in  your  pleasures.  Ye 
adulteresses,  know  ye  not  that  the  friendship  of 
the  world  is  enmity  with  God  ?  Whosoever 
therefore     would    be     a    friend    of    the    world 

-  5  maketh  himself  an  enemy  of  God.  Or  think  ye 
that  the  scripture  speaketh  in  vain  ?  Doth  the 
spirit  which  he  made  to  dwell  in  us  long  unto  envy- 

6  ing  ?  But  he  giveth  more  grace.  Wherefore  tJie 
scripture  saith,  God  resisteth  the  proud,  but  giveth 

7  grace  to  the  humble.  Be  subject  therefore  unto 
God  ;  but  resist  the  devil,  and  he  will  flee  from 

8  you.  Draw  nigh  to  God,  and  he  will  draw  nigh  to 
you.     Cleanse  your  hands,  ye  sinners  ;  and  purif}'' 

9  your  hearts,  ye  doubleminded.  Be  afflicted,  and 
mourn,  and  weep :  let  your  laughter  be  turned  to 

10  mourning,  and  your  joy  to  heaviness.  Humble 
yourselves  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and  he  shall 
exalt  you. 

1 1  .Speak  not  one  against  another,  brethren.  He 
that  speaketh  against  a  brother,  or  judgeth  his 
brother,  speaketh  against  the  law,  and  judgeth  the 
law :  but  if  thou  judgest  the  law,  thou  art  not  a 

12  doer  of  the  ]aw,,but  a  judge.    One  only  is  the  law- 


GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES        xvii 

giver  and  judge,  even  he  who  is  able  to  save  and 
to  destroy  :  but  who  art  thou  that  judgest  thy 
neighbour  ? 

Go  to  now,  ye  that  say,  To-day  or  to-morrow   1 3 
we  will  go  into  this  city,  and  spend  a  year  there, 
and  trade,  and  get  gain:  whereas  ye  know  not    14 
what  shall  be  on  the  morrow.    What  is  your  life  ? 
For  ye  are  a  vapour,  that  appeareth  for  a  little 
time,  and  then  vanisheth  away.    For  that  ye  ought   ^  5 
to  say.  If  the  Lord  will,  we  shall  both  live,  and  do 
this  or  that.   But  now  ye  glory  in  your  vauntings  :   16 
all  such  glorying  is  evil.     To  him  therefore  that   1 7 
knoweth  to  do  good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  it  is 
sin. 

Go  to  now,  ye  rich,  weep  and  howl  for  your  5 
miseries  that  are  coming  upon  you.     Your  riches  2 
are  corrupted,  and  your  garments  are  moth-eaten. 
Your  gold  and  your  silver  are  rusted ;  and  their  rust   3 
shall  be  for  a  testimony  against  you,  and  shall  eat 
your  flesh  as  fire.     Ye  have  laid  up  your  treasure 
in  the  last  days.    Behold,  the  hire  of  the  labourers  ^ 
who  mowed  your  fields,  which  is  of  you  kept  back 
by  fraud,  crieth  out :  and  the  cries  of  them  that 
reaped  have  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of 
Sabaoth.     Ye  have  lived  delicately  on  the  earth,   5 


xviii       GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES 

and  taken  your  pleasure  ;  ye  have  nourished  your 

6  hearts  in  a  day  of  slaughter.  Ye  have  condemned, 
ye  have  killed  the  righteous  one;  he  doth  not 
resist  you. 

7  Be  patient,  therefore,  brethren,  until  the  coming 
of  the  Lord.  Behold,  the  husbandman  waiteth  for 
the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth,  being  patient  over 

8  it,  until  it  receive  the  early  and  latter  rain.  Be  ye 
also  patient ;  stablish  your  hearts  :  for  the  coming 

9  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand.  Murmur  not,  brethren, 
one  against  another,  that  ye  be  not  judged  :  behold, 

10  the  judge  standeth  before  the  doors.  Take, 
brethren,  for  an  example  of  suffering  and  of  pa- 
tience, the  prophets  who  spake  in  the  name  of  the 

1 1  Lord.  Behold,  we  call  them  blessed  which  endured: 
ye  have  heard  of  the  patience  of  Job,  and  have 
seen  the  end  of  the  Lord,  how  that  the  Lord  is  full 
of  pity,  and  merciful. 

12  But  above  all  things,  my  brethren,  swear  not, 
neither  by  the  heaven,  nor  by  the  earth,  nor  by 
any  other  oath  :  but  let  your  yea  be  yea,  and  your 
nay,  nay  ;  that  ye  fall  not  under  judgement. 

13  Is  any  among  you  suffering?  let  him  pray.  Is 

14  any  cheerful?  let  him  sing  praise.  Is  any  among 
you  sick  ?  let  him  call  for  the  elders  of  the  church  ; 


GENERAL  EPISTLE  OF  JAMES         xix 

and  let  them  pray  over  him,  anointing  him  with  oil 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord:  and  the  prayer  of  faith    15 
shall  save  him  that  is  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise 
him  up  ;  and  if  he  have  committed  sins,  it  shall  be 
forgiven  him.     Confess  therefore  your  sins  one  to   16 
another,  and  pray  one  for  another,  that  ye  may  be 
healed.      The   supplication  of  a   righteous   man 
availeth  much  in  its  working.    Elijah  was  a  man  of  1 7 
like  passions  with  us,  and  he  prayed  fervently  that 
it  might  not  rain ;  and  it  rained  not  on  the  earth 
for  three  years  and  six  months.     And  he  prayed   i^ 
again ;  and  the  heaven  gave  rain,  and  the  earth 
brought  forth  her  fruit. 

My  brethren,  if  any  among  you  do  err  from  the    19 
truth,  and  one  convert  him;  let  him  know,  that   20 
he  which  converteth  a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his 
way  shall  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  shall  cover 
a  multitude  of  sins. 


PART  I 
THE  LETTER  AND  THE  MAN 


INTRODUCTION 

I  SUBMIT  for  study  one  of  the   Epistles  of  the  introduc- 
New  Testament.     It  is  short ;  it  is  compact ;  it    °'^^' 
contains  a  wholesome  philosophy  of  life  ;    it  is 
full  of  teaching  ;  it  is  vigorous  ;  it  is  practical. 

Let  us  take  it  up  and  study  it.  Let  us  believe 
that  some  good  will  come  from  our  study,  if  we 
strive  to  reach  the  living  principles  which  find 
expression  in  it,  and  if  we  look  for  the  guidance 
of  that  Divine  Spirit  who  alone  can  give  to  us  the 
moral  sympathy  needed  to  perceive  these  living 
principles.  In  this  spirit  let  us  turn  to  our  book. 
We  shall  first  consider  the  writer  as  disclosed  in 
the  letter.  We  shall  then  consider  the  letter 
itself.  We  shall  thus  make  the  letter  throw  light 
on  the  writer,  and  our  knowledge  of  the  writer 
will  enable  us  the  better  to  understand  his  letter. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER 

First,  let  us  notice  that  we  are  not  entering  upon  The  letter. 
the  study  of  a  lengthy  volume.     This  little  book 
consists  of  but  five  chapters.     It  is  a  very  short 
work.     It  would  barely  fill  a  column  and  a  half 
in  the  Times  newspaper ;  it  could  be  all  printed 
in  less  than  three  pages  of  an  ordinary  monthly 
magazine.     It  is  about  as  long  as  one  of  Addison's 
essays  in  the  Spectator ;  it  is  not  so  long  as  De 
Quincey's   beautiful    story   of    the    Daughter   of 
Lebanon.     It  is  written   by  a  remarkable   man; 
it  deals  with   matters  of  deep  and  abiding  life- 
interest.     It  is  worthy  of  study,  but   there  are 
many  who  pass  it  by.     People  who  would  give 
considerable  time  and  attention  to  a  play  or  a 
poem,  and  show  an  anxious  desire  to  master  its 
contents  and  meaning,  are  tempted  to  leave  this 
letter  of  St.  James  unread.     They  are  under  the 


4  ^VISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

impression  that  it  is  long,  tedious,  uninteresting. 
I  have  shown  that  it  is  not  long  when  compared 
with  certain  pieces  of  prose.  Shall  we  measure 
its  length  by  some  well-known  poems  ?  It  is 
only  half  the  length  of  Goldsmith's  "  Traveller  " 
or  his  **  Deserted  Village."  It  is  about  as  long 
as  Browning's  "  Andrea  del  Sarto  "  or  Milton's 
"  Lycidas."  It  contains  less  than  three  thousand 
words. 

But  a  letter  may  be  tedious  without  being 
long  ;  and  the  letter  of  St.  James  has  been  flouted 
even  by  thoughtful  and  pious  people.  Luther 
called  it  an  epistle  of  straw;  and  why  should  we 
trouble  ourselves  about  a  letter  which  failed  to 
attract  even  pious  men?  If  it  lack  the  spiritual 
force  which  enables  us  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
letters  of  St.  Paul,  if  in  spite  of  its  brevity  it  is 
not  popular  among  the  New  Testament  epistles, 
must  we  not  allow  that  it  suffers  from  tedious- 
ness  ? 

I  do  not  think  that  we  shall  find  it  tedious.  If 
we  intelligently  realise  the  personality  of  the 
writer,  if  we  can  appreciate  his  intellectual  quaht}'^, 
if  we  can  catch  something  of  his  moral  spirit,  we 
shall  change  our  minds ;  for  we  shall  find  that 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER     5 

we  have  come  into  contact  with  a  man  of  great 
force  of  character,  quick  to  observe  men  and 
things  ;  shrewd,  humorous,  earnest,  passionately 
philanthropic,  and  uncompromisingly  loyal  to 
right.  He  does  not  enlarge  upon  inward  Christian 
experiences,  but  this  is  not  because  he  has  not 
felt  them  :  it  is  because  he  possesses  a  spiritual 
reticence  which,  when  it  is  understood,  gives  a 
depth  and  force  to  his  allusions  and  phrases. 

How  then  shall  we  best  realise  the  personality  His  person 
of  the  writer?  We  can  do  so  by  recalling  briefly  beJis™*^ 
what  we  know  of  his  history;  but  there  is  another  ^^^^tt '" 
way  in  which  we  may  do  this.  We  may  gather 
something  of  his  personal  character  and  mental 
qualities  from  his  own  words.  Few  men  can 
wholly  conceal  themselves  behind  their  writings. 
The  dramatic  poet  may  do  so ;  but  even  so  great 
an  artist  as  Shakespeare  is  beheved  to  have 
betrayed  himself  now  and  again  in  his  dramas ; 
and  careful  students  have  written  essays  descrip- 
tive of  the  true  Shakespeare  as  unconsciously 
disclosed  in  his  works.  If  the  dramatist,  who 
may  be  said  to  speak  from  behind  a  mask,  runs 
the  risk  of  betraying  himself,  other  writers  must 
run  even  greater  risks  ;  and  most  of  all  the  letter- 


6  WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

writer,  who  practises  no  concealments,  and  writes 
out  of  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  bringing  into  use 
for  illustration  the  objects,  customs,  and  characters 
which  are  most  familiar  to  him.  Such  a  man 
discloses  the  range  of  his  reading,  the  direction 
of  his  observations,  the  current  of  his  thoughts. 
Can  we  cross-question  this  letter  and  form  some 
idea  of  the  writer's  temperament  and  qualities  ? 
I  think  we  can. 

First,  this  writer  is  fond  of  nature.  Natural 
objects — the  sun,  the  earth,  the  rain,  the  sea, 
grass,  fruits,  and  flowers  have  a  charm  for  him ; 
he  has  studied  them  ;  he  delights  in  their  colour, 
form,  and  movement ;  he  has  noticed  the  pro- 
cesses of  nature,  and  has  derived  from  his  observa- 
tion interesting  and  far-reaching  subjects  of 
thought.  Observant  as  he  is  of  nature,  his  keen 
eye  has  watched  human  life  and  its  fashions  ;  he 
has  studied  the  occupations  and  the  achievements 
of  men ;  he  has  measured  their  characters,  and 
he  has  tracked  their  thoughts  through  the  narrow 
labyrinths  of  their  conceit,  their  pride,  their  over- 
weening confidence,  their  paltry  and  pitiable  self- 
deceptions.  He  is  a  man  well  acquainted  with 
life   and   its   aspects,    with    nature    and    human 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER     7 

nature.     Let   us  see  if  we  can  make  good  this 
view. 

His  letter  is,  as  we  have  said,   a  short  one.   He  is  an 

observer  of 

It  consists  of  five  brief  chapters,  containing  to-  nature. 
gether  only  108  verses;  but  in  these  five  chapters 
we  meet  with  eleven  illustrations  drawn  directly 
and  consciously  from  nature.  Let  us  realise 
what  this  means  by  comparing  this  letter  with 
the  other  letters  in  the  New  Testament.  The 
eleven  illustrations  are  scattered  throughout  the 
five  chapters,  i.e.,  there  is  an  average  of  two 
such  illustrations  to  each  chapter,  or  one  in  every 
ten  verses.  With  this  in  mind  we  turn  to  other 
New  Testament  writers. 

In  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  with  its  sixteen 
chapters  and  its  433  verses,  St.  Paul  only  three 
or  four  times  employs  a  nature-illustration.  In 
his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  which  is  a  little 
longer  than  the  letter  of  St.  James,  there  are  not 
more  than  three  or  four  nature-allusions,  none  of 
which  can  be  regarded  as  illustrations  from  nature 
intentionally  employed.  In  the  First  Epistle  of 
St.  Peter,  which  is  about  the  same  length  as  the 
Epistle  of  St,  James  (105  verses),  there  are  about 
three  or  four  such  allusions.     It  may  be  safely 


8  WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

said  that  no  other  New  Testament  writer,  except 
perhaps  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse,  shows 
anything  Hke  the  same  responsiveness  to  the 
witness  of  nature.  He  reflects  in  this  the  spirit 
of  his  Master.  He  finds  in  Nature  the  ready 
store-house  of  teaching.  He  sees  the  work  of 
the  wind  upon  the  sea — the  great  fickle  ocean 
lashed  into  fury,  and  the  unstable  waves  flung 
hither  and  thither,  and  he  sees  in  it  an  image  of 
the  man  whose  spiritual  purposes  lack  steadiness 
and  persistency.  He  notes  the  action  of  the 
fierce  rays  of  the  Eastern  sun  upon  the  grass  or 
the  wayside  flower.  In  the  cool  morning  the 
grass  looks  fresh  and  green,  and  the  wayside 
flower  lifts  its  head  in  pride  of  colour ;  but  the 
great  sun  creeps  surely  towards  its  noonday 
throne ;  the  flower  begins  to  droop  ;  the  grass  is 
soon  parched,  for  the  hot  and  moistureless 
wind  breathes  its  merciless  breath  on  vegetation. 
The  sun  ariseth  with  the  scorching  wind,  and 
withereth  the  grass ;  and  the  flower  thereof 
falleth,  and  the  grace  of  the  fashion  of  it  perisheth. 
Even  so  is  the  man  of  wealth  dried  up  by  the 
very  access  of  his  prosperity.  He  recalls  how 
swiftly  in  the  dry  season  fire  spreads  in  a  forest 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER     9 

(iii.  6),  and  quickly  blasts  and  ruins  tree  after 
tree  ;  and  he  sees  in  the  forest  fire  the  image  of 
the  scandalous  tongue  which  wrecks  reputations 
and  destroys  the  shelter  which  love  spreads  over 
men's  characters.  He  sees  the  sweet  consistency 
of  nature ;  the  spring  may  be  trusted,  if  it  be  a 
sweet-water  spring,  to  yield  sweet  water  (iii.  11); 
but  man  is  a  mass  of  inconsistency,  and  even 
otherwise  amiable  people  will  let  their  tongues 
spit  out  injury  and  mischief  He  looks  round 
and  feels  secure  in  the  fidelity  of  nature  (iii.  12). 
The  vine  will  yield  grapes,  the  olive  its  berries, 
the  fig  its  figs ;  but  man  is  constantly  betraying 
his  brother  man  by  his  weakness,  waywardness, 
thoughtlessness.  "  Out  of  the  same  mouth  pro- 
ceedeth  blessing  and  cursing"  (iii.  10);  the  man 
that  is  a  kindly-spoken  man  to-day,  to-morrow 
launches  out  words  which  fling  ruin  abroad.  He 
wonders  at  the  false  security  of  man  ;  he  marvels 
that  beings  so  short-lived  should  be  so  incapable 
of  understanding  their  own  frailty.  He  thinks  of 
the  solid  and  stable  earth,  and  of  the  fleeting 
crowds  of  men.  He  sees  the  vapour  rising  from 
the  earth  and  dissolving  into  the  surrounding  air; 
it  is  the  image  of  life,  that  "  appeareth  for  a  little 


lo         AVISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

time  and  then  vanisheth  away"  (iv.  14).  He 
notes  how  slowly  the  harvest  seems  to  grow.  Sun 
and  rain  and  soil  must  do  their  work.  The  farmer 
who  knows  the  laws  of  growth  patiently  waits 
upon  the  seasons.  Even  so  should  faith  wait 
patiently  upon  God,  who  knows  all  times  and 
rules  all  seasons. 

Thus  the  writer  draws  from  all  quarters  his 
illustrations :  he  has  noted  how  nature  carries  on 
her  processes ;  he  has  learnt  lessons  which  are 
open  to  every  observant  eye,  and  he  seeks  to 
make  men  learn  in  like  manner.  He  has  watched 
the  wind,  the  rain,  the  sun ;  he  has  seen  the 
growth  of  grass  and  flower,  the  upspringing  of 
the  corn  as  it  responds  to  the  early  and  the  latter 
rain ;  he  has  stood  upon  the  shore  and  seen  the 
huge  waves  driven  hither  and  thither,  or  battering 
against  the  sides  of  the  great  ships  (iii.  4) ;  he 
has  rejoiced  in  nature,  which  gives  to  man  re- 
freshment from  her  thrifty  bosom,  and  yields  her 
various  fruit  from  olive,  vine,  and  fig.  He 
has  gone  through  the  world  with  open  eyes,  and 
has  marked  the  processes  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth.  The  writer  was  clearly  an  observer  of 
nature. 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRFrER  ii 
Not  less  is  he  an  observer  of  life  and  fashion.   He  is  an 

observer  of 

He  draws  his  illustrations  not  alone  from  ordinary  life  and 
natural  objects,  but  from  things  of  human  use  and 
fashion.  He  notes  the  ring  which  sparkles  on  the 
hand  of  wealth  (ii.  2)  and  the  mirror  before  which 
fashion  arrays  itself  (i.  23);  he  sees  the  restrain- 
ing power  which  man  can  exercise  upon  wild 
animals  and  creeping  things  (iii.  7),  the  horseman 
ruling  the  horse  with  a  bridle  (iii.  3;  and  the 
steersman  governing  the  great  ship  with  the  little 
rudder  (iii.  4). 

He  is  observant  of  men's  characters  not  less   He  is  an 

-    ,      .  T  T  ....  observer  of 

than  of  their  powers.  He  recognises  the  relation-  character, 
ship  of  various  classes — the  rich  and  the  poor 
(i.  9,  10),  the  employer  and  the  employed  (v.  4) ; 
he  notices  various  shades  of  character,  and  he 
sketches  them  with  a  few  masterly  strokes.  He 
pictures  ostentatious  and  patronising  piety  stalk- 
ing into  the  house  of  God,  splendid  and  self-con- 
scious; he  recalls  the  servile  eagerness  of  the 
church  officers  towards  such  a  worshipper,  and 
he  contrasts  it  with  the  haughty  arrogance  shown 
towards  the  shabbily  dressed  (ii.  2-4).  He 
sketches  the  shallow-souled  self-deceiver,  who 
has   clear   perceptions   of    right,    and    no   moral 


12         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

resolution  towards  it  (i.  22-24),  ^^^^  empty  talker, 
exuberant  of  religious  phraseology  and  destitute 
of  religious  principle  (i.  26,  27),  the  man  who 
throws  the  blame  of  his  failures  on  circumstances 
(i.  13),  and  the  other  man  who  throws  the  care  of 
the  needy  upon  chance  (ii.  15,  16). 

In  short,  here  is  a  writer  who  is  observant  of 
nature,  life,  and  character.  He  is  possessed  of 
quick  intellectual  responsiveness  to  every  aspect 
of  nature's  beauty  and  order.  He  knows  the 
fashions  of  the  world,  and  he  notes  with  unerring 
clearness  and  humorous  shrewdness  the  characters 
of  men ;  he  sees  their  superficial  goodness,  their  in- 
dolent selfishness,  their  vulgarity  and  the  mischief 
of  their  untamed  thoughtlessness.  He  can  see 
clearly,  and  can  speak  with  passionate  indignation, 
but  he  has  the  saving  sense  of  humour,  and  can 
laugh  at  the  inconsistencies  of  men ;  but  he  is 
never  cynical,  for  his  moral  earnestness  seeks 
practical  improvement  among  men  ;  and  his  strong 
faith  gives  him  confidence  that  at  the  fitting  season 
God  will  accomplish  His  own  work. 

Thus,  from  a  rapid  survey  of  this  letter  we  can 
gather  something  of  the  powers  and  character  of 
the  writer.     He  is  no  dull,  commonplace  man ; 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER   13 

he  possesses  mental  alertness,  a  clear  vision  of 
men  and  things ;  he  is  widely  observant ;  he  has 
a  capacity  for  laughter,  for  tears,  and  for  passion ; 
he  has  a  central,  steadying  power  of  good  sense  • 
he  has  a  vigorous  and  sturdy  faith ;  and,  above 
all,  a  loyal,  if  reticent,  love  of  One  whom  he 
regards  as  his  Master  and  whom  he  calls  the  Lord 
of  Glory  (ii.  i).  He  has  not  the  tumultuous  en- 
thusiasm of  St.  Paul,  nor  the  serene  elevation  of 
St.  John ;  but  he  is  a  clear-sighted,  practical, 
shrewd,  observant  man,  humorous,  just,  and 
earnest.  He  is  a  man  who  would  be  sure  to 
fill  a  place  which  neither  St.  Paul,  with  his  wide- 
ranging  zeal  and  exhaustless  inward  experience, 
nor  St.  John,  with  his  terse  and  highly-centralised 
philosophy,  could  occupy.  He  would  be  eminently 
the  man  whose  good  sense  would  fit  him  for  a 
central  position  among  men  of  violent  views  or 
exuberant  enthusiasms,  and  we  are  not  surprised 
to  find,  when  we  turn  to  history,  that  the  writer 
of  the  letter  held  an  honoured  place  in  the  early 
Christian  community,  and  was  regarded  as  a 
pillar  in  the  Church  (Gal.  ii.  9). 

Such  are  some  of  the  intellectual  qualities  of 
the  writer.     It  will  be  well  now  to  note  some  of 


14         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

the  moral  traits  which  disclose  themselves  in  his 
letter. 

We  are  struck  at  once  by  his  moral  courage. 
There  is  a  resolute  facing  of  facts.  Life  is  not  a 
pleasure  garden  or  a  place  of  dreams.  Trouble 
is  a  stern  and  inevitable  reality  (i.  3,  12).  As 
real  as  trouble  should  be  man's  religion.  He  has 
no  fear  of  the  religious  charlatan ;  and  if  he  has 
no  fear  of  him,  neither  has  he  patience  with 
him.  He  speaks  frankly  and  pointedly  against 
the  shallow  and  pretentious  religion  of  some 
professed  Christians.  He  rebukes  ostentation, 
servility,  arrogance  (ii.  2-7),  He  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  expose  inconsistency  He  tells  them  that 
self-will  and  selfish  desires  are  the  cause  of  their 
want  of  harmony  (iv.  1-5).  He  denounces  the 
oppressors  of  the  poor,  and  the  landowners  who 
withhold  or  delay  the  payment  of  wages  to  their 
labourers  (v.  1-7).  Whatever  evil  this  writer  sees, 
he  bravely  and  clearly  declares  and  rebukes  it. 

This  vigorous  attitude  is  due  to  the  sound 
moral  quality  which  the  writer  displays,  viz.,  his 
keen  sense  of  right.  He  is  imbued  with  faith 
in  righteousness.  He  cannot  endure  crookedness, 
cruelty,  mercilessness.     Still  less  can  he  tolerate 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER  15 

superficial  loyalty  to  moral  right;  hence  he  is  full 

of  scorn  of  the  religion  which  is  on  the  lip  and 

not  in  the  life.     He  is  passionately  earnest  for 

honesty   of    purpose    and   whole-heartedness    in 

right.     The  man  who  pretends  to  be  good  and 

does  no  good  is  no  good.     Good  wishes  will  not 

feed  the  hungry  or  clothe  the  naked  (ii.  15,  16). 

Cleverness   and   shrewdness   may  be   successful 

weapons  in  worldly  contests,  but  they  are  not  of 

the  armoury  of  heaven,  whose  wisdom  is  of  a 

nobler  quality  altogether  (iii.  13-18).     We  cannot 

listen  to  his  fervent  words  without  feeling  that 

we  are  in  the  presence  of  one  who  is  an  ardent 

believer   in   righteousness   and  in  the  righteous 

order,  by  which  God  rules  His  worlds. 

But  is  the  writer  a  deeply  religious  man  ?  We  His  reiu 
may  concede  his  moral  courage  and  his  passionate  perament. 
devotion  to  righteousness,  but  does  he  reveal  the 
deeper  qualities  of  the  religious  man,  the  spiritual 
qualities,  for  instance,  which  are  so  evident  in 
St.  Paul  ?  St.  Paul  has  clear  views  of  righteous- 
ness, but  the  stream  which  bears  him  along  is 
that  of  a  strong  personal  affection  and  loyal 
devotion  to  his  Lord.  He  would  say,  "  I  live, 
yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."     (Gal.  ii.  20.) 


1 6         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

He  felt  that  the  spiritual  forces  of  his  life  were 
those  which  came  to  him  directly  from  Christ 
— *'  I  can  do  all  things  in  Him  (Christ)  which 
strengtheneth  me."  (Phil.  iv.  13.)  "That  life 
which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  in  faith,  the 
faith  which  is  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me 
and  gave  Himself  up  for  me."  (Gal.  ii.  20.) 

This  ardent  personal  attachment  is  seen  in 
St.  Peter,  who  could  write,  "  Whom  not  having 
seen  ye  love ;  on  whom,  though  now  ye  see 
Him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  greatly  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory."  (i  Peter  i.  8.) 
To  St.  John,  the  personal  Christ  was  the  very 
life  of  his  own  life.  The  knowledge  of  Christ  was 
a  secret  power  which  gave  fulness,  reality,  and 
permanence  to  all  life.  He  tells  us  how  our  Lord 
said,  "  This  is  life  eternal  to  know  Thee,  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent  " 
(John  xvii.  3),  and  he  makes  the  thought  his  own, 
when  he  says  :  "  The  life  was  manifested,  and  we 
have  seen  and  bear  witness  and  declare  unto  you 
the  life,  the  eternal  life  which  was  with  the 
Father  and  was  manifested  unto  us."    (i  John  i.  2.) 

But  do  we  find  the  same  clear  declaration  of 
personal  love  and  affection  in  St.  James  ?     Does 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER   17 

he  declare  as  these  deeply  spiritual  writers  did 
the  great  law  or  principle  of  spiritual  communion  ? 
Did  he  realise  as  they  did  that  secret  of  exchanged 
personality  which  was  so  sacred  a  joy  to  them  ? 
Was  he  transfused  with  the  spirit  of  Christ  as 
they  were  ? 

At  first  sight  his  letter  in  this  respect  sounds 
cold.  He  has  none  of  the  eifusive  ardour  of 
St.  Paul ;  he  does  not  overflow  with  personal 
emotion,  and  fall  into  raptures  over  the  love  which 
has  captivated  his  life.  There  is  no  utterance  in 
the  letter  which  is  parallel  to  that  jubilant  out- 
burst of  St.  Paul,  "Who  shall  separate  us  from 
the  love  of  Christ  ?  Shall  tribulation,  or  anguish, 
or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness,  or  peril, 
or  sword  ?  Even  as  it  is  written,  for  Thy  sake 
we  were  killed  all  the  day  long :  we  were  accounted 
as  sheep  for  the  slaughter.  Nay,  in  all  these 
things  we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  Him 
that  loved  us.  For  I  am  persuaded  that  neither 
death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  powers, 
nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature, 
shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God, 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."    (Rom.  viii. 

B 


iS         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

35-39.)  After  reading  this,  it  must  be  allowed 
that  St.  James'  words  sound  cold  and  tame,  and 
we  are  not  surprised  that  people  should  ask 
whether  the  deep  personal  love  to  One  who  was 
the  Life  of  his  life  finds  any  expression  in  his 
letter. 

It  is  easy  to  reply  that  men  differ,  and  that  as 
their  temperaments  are  so  will  their  utterances 
be  ;  and  if  the  question  asked  were  one  of  degree, 
it  would  be  enough  to  answer  that  where  St.  Paul 
is  ardent  and  exuberant,  St.  James  is  self- 
restrained  and  reticent.  But  the  question  asked 
is  whether  St.  James  realises  in  even  the  slightest 
degree  the  meaning  of  that  personal  love  of  his 
Lord  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  St.  Paul. 
The  We  have  said  enough  to  show  that  it  is  ad- 

emotional  r  <->       t 

seif-reveia-  mittcd  that  the  temperament  of  St.  James  is  not 
given  to  much  speaking,  to  the  overflow  of  phrases 
or  to  the  affluent  expression  of  emotions.  With 
this  admission  before  us,  we  must  remember  that 
brief  outbursts  of  emotion  from  such  a  reticent 
character  are  more  significant  than  the  effusive 
utterances  ot  more  communicative  natures,  A 
word,  a  phrase,  even  a  hesitation  in  speech  from 
a  silent  man  has  a  value  beyond  the  longer  utter- 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER    19 

ances  of  a  man  of  many  words.  We  are  not 
undervaluing  the  eloquence  of  the  weighty  letters 
of  St.  Paul :  his  very  exuberance  of  thought  and 
feeling  probably  constituted  his  charm ;  his  full 
heart  must  speak,  and  he  spoke  with  warm,  rich, 
and  redundant  speech.  His  overflowing  earnest- 
ness and  his  self-identification  with  what  he 
expressed  contributed  to  his  influence.  He  must 
have  been  a  very  lovable  man.  But  it  is  not 
given  to  every  man  to  reach  this  happy  harmony 
of  thought  and  emotion  :  and  the  fearlessness  of 
utterance  which  he  exhibits  is  only  possible  to 
very  great  or  very  simple  natures.  There  are 
others  who  hold  a  jealous  guard  over  their  feelings, 
and  to  whom  it  is  an  instinct,  if  not  a  necessity, 
to  exercise  a  sort  of  secrecy  in  regard  to  their 
most  sacred  emotions.  Such  men,  however,  may 
be  surprised  into  a  betrayal  of  the  depth  of  their 
feelings,  and  the  strength  of  their  affections  may 
be  revealed  by  a  single  word.  There  is  one  illus- 
tration of  this  which  comes  with  almost  startling 
force  upon  us  as  we  read  this  letter  of  St.  James. 
The  writer  has  been  carrying  us  along  in  his 
calm  and  self-restrained  fashion,  but  saying  what 
he  has  to  say  in  simple,  necessary  words,  when 


2  0         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

he  suddenly  throws  in  an  epithet,  splendid  and 
suggestive,  a  hint,  an  unfinished  utterance,  all 
the  more  striking  because  of  its  incompleteness. 
He  is  proceeding  to  warn  his  hearers  against 
partiality  or  interested  servility,  against  that 
respect  of  persons  which  is  anything  but  a  token 
of  true  respect.  "  My  brethren,"  he  writes,  "  have 
not  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  respect 
of  persons"  (ii.  i).  But  the  moment  he  has 
named  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  he  breaks  into  a 
pregnant  but  incomplete  phrase,"  Our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Lord  of  Glory."  So  it  stands  in  our 
version,  but  in  the  original  the  word  Lord  is  not 
repeated — our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — *'  of  glory." 
The  thought  seems  to  be,  Have  not  the  faith  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — yes,  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord  I  said,  and  such  indeed  He  is,  but  He  is  the 
Lord  of  glory  also.  The  thought  of  the  splendour 
which  belongs  to  his  Master  comes  like  a  bright 
cloud  before  his  vision  as  he  is  giving  the  simple 
counsel  against  respect  of  persons.  The  appro- 
priateness of  the  phrase  is  clear  enough.  Those 
whose  faith  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  glorious  Lord, 
need  not  lose  their  presence  of  mind  before  the 
tawdry   splendours  of  the   man   with   ring   and 


SELF-REVELATION  OF  THE  WRITER    21 

gaudy  apparel.  The  writer  had  not,  Hke  his 
namesake,  seen  his  Master  transfigured  on  the 
Mount  and  clad  in  the  radiance  of  a  glory  of 
heavenly  whiteness  that  no  fuller  on  earth  could 
equal ;  but  he  had  seen  in  his  Master  a  glory  so 
great  that  he  could  no  longer  be  dazzled  by  the 
fictitious  glories  of  this  world.  Thus  the  appro- 
priateness of  the  word  "  of  glory  "  is  clear  enough  ; 
but  it  is  something  more  than  the  appropriateness 
of  the  utterance  to  the  line  of  thought  which 
should  claim  our  attention,  it  is  the  self-revelation 
of  St.  James.  He  lets  us  see  in  what  way  he 
thinks  of  his  Master  :  the  single  word  "  of  glor}'  " 
(it  is  one  word  in  the  Greek)  is  enough ;  his  soul 
is  filled  with  the  thought  of  his  Master's  glory ;  it 
eclipses  all  else ;  it  is  a  glory  which  excels ;  it  is 
no  mere  exhibition  of  pomp ;  it  is  the  moral 
splendour  of  the  love  and  wisdom  which  was 
pure,  gentle,  easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy 
(iii.  17),  This  is  the  glory  which  is  of  heaven; 
in  this  he  had  seen  his  Master  arrayed  during 
His  earthly  pilgrimage  ;  and  evermore  his  Master 
was  to  him  the  Lord  of  his  life  and  the  Lord  who 
had  unfolded  the  true  meaning  and  the  true  glory 
of  life.    It  is  something  to  realise  that  Jesus  Christ 


2  2          WISDOM  OF  JAI\[ES  THE  JUST 

is  Lord,  but  it  is  far  more  to  realise  wherein  the 
glory  of  His  Lordship  consists.  It  is  only  those 
who  have  entered  with  ethical  sympathy  into  the 
aims  of  Jesus  Christ  who  can  appreciate  the 
nature  of  His  glory.  No  man  can  say  that  Jesus 
is  the  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost  (i  Cor.  xii.  3)  ; 
but  when  we  can  do  this  we  begin  to  realise  how 
far  different  from  any  worldly  glory  is  the  spiritual 
glory  of  our  Master.  Only  when  we  have  His 
spirit  can  we  share  His  view  of  the  world  and  its 
destiny.  As  we  grow  one  with  Him  in  spirit  we 
can  share  His  aims,  and  look  out  upon  things 
from  the  vantage  ground  upon  which  He  stands. 
When  we  are  with  Him  where  He  is,  then  and  then 
only  can  we  behold  His  glory  (John  xvii.  24). 


CHAPTER  II 

HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE 

Our  interest  in  man  means  our  interest  in  life.  It 
is  one  reply  to  the  question — Is  life  worth  living? 
— to  realise  the  deep  interest  which  attaches  to  all 
life.  The  story  of  the  obscure  may  possess 
elements  full  of  attractiveness.  The  conditions 
which  brought  about  the  obscurity  of  such  a  life 
are  worthy  of  study.  The  conditions  which  led 
another  life  out  of  obscurity  into  the  full  light  of 
fame,  stimulate  our  interest.  We  may  complain  of 
life's  monotony  at  times  ;  but  when  we  write  down 
the  epitaph  of  the  unkown — He  was  born  !  he 
lived !  he  died ! — we  feel  our  curiosity  stirred. 
The  possibilities  of  man,  and  the  possibilities  of 
life  rise  before  our  eyes.  To  this  or  that  individual 
life  may  be  dull ;  but  on  the  whole  life  is  inter- 
esting, and  man's  verdicts  on  life  are  interesting. 
What  is  the  verdict  of  the  Apostle  upon  our  life? 


24         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

The  pur-  We  have  seen  enough  of  him  to  realise  that  he 

Hfe.^  °  looked  out  upon  the  world  with  observant  eyes. 
He  knew  and  saw  men  and  things.  He  formed 
his  own  judgment,  clearly  and,  as  I  think, 
promptly.  If  we  can  follow  his  thoughts  and 
measure  his  judgments,  we  shall  gain  something 
from  his  experience.  What  is  his  general  judg- 
ment on  life  ? 

It  is  something  on  this  wise.  The  understand- 
ing of  life  depends  upon  the  realisation  of  the  end 
or  purpose  of  life.  To  what  end  are  we  born  ?  is 
a  question  which  we  must  answer  before  we  can 
deal  with  that  other — Is  life  worth  living  ?  Now 
the  true  end  and  purpose  of  life  is  character.  In 
the  failure  to  realise  this  lies  the  secret  of  many 
human  disappointments.  If  life  be  really  designed 
for  one  end,  and  men  persistently  treat  it  as 
though  it  were  designed  for  another,  is  it  sur- 
prising that  we  hear  the  wail  of  the  disappointed  ? 
We  may  choose  how  to  live ;  we  may  choose  our 
pursuits,  our  recreations,  our  friendships,  our 
studies ;  but  the  real  end  of  life,  as  such,  has 
already  been  chosen ;  and  life  can  only  yield 
satisfaction  to  the  man  who  allows  his  life  to  be 
governed  by  that  already  chosen  purpose.     That 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  25 

purpose  is  not  the  gratification  of  desire,  nor  the 
satisfaction  of  curiosity,  but  the  education  of 
character.  Let  us  reaUse  this,  and  many  of  the 
N  offences  of  life  cease.  Life,  for  example,  is  full  of 
temptations.  We  take  the  word  in  its  true  and 
wide  sense  of  trials,  and  not  only  in  its  narrower 
sense  of  influences  leading  to  sin.  Life  is  full  of 
those  temptations  which  test  and  try  and  so 
discipline  men.  If  these  come  as  agents  to  fulfil 
the  true  purpose  of  life,  is  their  advent  a  cause  of 
regret  ?  Ought  it  not  rather  to  be  a  cause  of 
joy  ?  This  is  emphatically  St.  James'  view : 
*'  Count  it  all  joy,  when  ye  fall  into  divers  tempta- 
tions, knowing  this  that  the  trying  of  your  faith 
worketh  patience"  (i.  2,  3).  It  is  thus  that  he 
begins  his  letter,  after  he  has  given  salutations  of 
love  and  affection  to  his  correspondents.  Do  we 
not  read  in  the  words  his  clear  conception  of  the 
end  of  life  ?  Circumstances,  however  touched 
with  pain,  are  yet  instruments  of  spiritual  good. 
They  call  forth  those  qualities  which  are  funda- 
mental in  all  noble  characters.  Therefore  wel- 
come those  agents  of  good;  count  it  all  joy  when 
ye  fall  into  the  midst  of  such  trials.  It  is  then  a 
work  of  the  highest  wisdom  thus  to  deal  with  life, 


2  6         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

and  thus  to  realise  the  significance  of  the  inci- 
dents which  befall  us. 

But  the  spirit  which  is  thus  wise  for  life  needs 
strengthening.     The  nourishment  of  that  spirit  of 
wisdom  is  from  God.     No  man  can  face  the  trials 
and   keep   the  heart   strong,  and  the  mind  calm 
without  heaven's   help.     Let   therefore  the  man 
who  understands  this  ask  wisdom  from  God.     If 
any  man  lack  wisdom — this  true  wisdom  of  life — 
let  him  ask  of  God  "  that  giveth  to  all  men  liber- 
ally and  upbraideth   not  "  (i.  5).     The  man  who 
possesses  this  wisdom  will  be  on  the  alert  against 
mere  surface   religion.     As  character  is   every- 
thing, he   will    be    wary    against    those    specious 
imitations  of  good  which  belong  to  mere  emotion, 
or,  worse,  to  pretentiousness.     He  will   sit  as   a 
guardian  over  himself,  checking  his  tongue  and 
criticising  his  own  conduct,  he  will  be  eager  to 
learn,  he  will  be  slow  to  speak  (i.   19).     He  will 
know  that   chatter  is  not  character  (i.  26).      His 
religion  will  be  one  whose  worship  is  a  pure  life 
full  of  kindly   deeds.     "  Pure   religion    and   un- 
defiled  before  God  and  the  Father  is  this — to  visit 
the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction  and 
to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world  "  (i.  27). 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  27 

Life,  therefore  is  an  opportunity,  great  and,  so 
far  as  we  know,  unique  for  the  development  of 
character.  Existence  as  it  conies  to  each  of  us 
brings  us  into  the  midst  of  a  divinely  ordered 
process  for  the  formation  of  character.  If  we 
sustain  ourselves  bravely  and  well,  looking  up 
trustfully  to  the  God  who  gives  wisdom  and 
sends  only  what  is  good,  facing  life  courageously, 
we  shall  win  that  inner  skill  which  can  transmute 
all  incidents  to  good,  and  we  shall  in  the  end  win 
that  character,  that  heavenlike  character,  which  is 
the  crown  of  life.  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  en- 
dureth  temptation,  for  when  he  is  tried,  he  shall 
receive  the  crown  of  life"  (i.  12). 

St.   James,  however,  is  not  a  mere  optimist.   His  verdict 

on  the  trials 

blind  to  the  darker  side  of  things.  He  has  not  of  ufe. 
without  meaning  spoken  of  temptations :  life 
brings  things  which  hinder  the  pursuits  of  the 
highest  aims.  This  is  of  the  very  nature  of  the 
trials  we  encounter.  But  it  is  characteristic  of 
the  Apostle  that  the  hindrances  to  which  he  gives 
prominence  are  those  which  belong  to  the  spiritual 
realm.  He  does  not  ignore  the  material  trials  of 
life,  but  they  are  the  chief  hindrances  to  the  spirit 
which  seeks  to  realise  the  true  end  of  existence. 


2  8         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

He  finds  the  hindrances  chiefly  in  those  subtle, 
spiritual  temptations  which  may  invade  and 
deteriorate  the  soul.  The  worst  foes  are  those 
which  come  from  within.  Among  these  he  notes 
the  forms  of  unreal  piety  which  so  readily  deceive 
men.  There  is  a  pretentious  piety  which  makes 
a  great  show  with  the  tongue  (i.  26).  There  is 
the  servile-hearted  piety  which  is  only  a  veneered 
worldliness  (ii,  1-4).  There  is  the  cheap  piety, 
which  consists  of  good  wishes,  but  which  can 
never  rise  to  the  practice  of  consistent  and  kindly 
deeds  (ii.  14-16).  There  is  the  censorious  piety, 
which  measures  itself  by  the  severity  of  its  judg- 
ment of  others,  and  believes  itself  good  in  propor- 
tion to  its  uncharitableness  (ii.  13  ;  iii.  1-13  ;  and 
iv.  II,  12).  There  is  the  selfish  piety,  which 
disregards  the  interest  and  the  profit  of  others, 
failing  to  understand  that  the  function  of  every 
noble  life  is  ministry  (iv.  i,  2  and  i.  26,  27). 

Besides  these  deceitful  appearances  of  piety, 
there  is,  of  course,  the  hindrance  of  rank  worldli- 
ness which  leads  to  unrighteousness  (iv.  13-17), 
even  to  that  unrighteousness  which  is  guilty  of 
the  fraudulent  oppression  of  the  weak  (v.  1-6). 

But  if  our  pathway  be  marked  by  hindrances, 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  29 

it  is  blessed  also  with  helps  by  the  way.  The 
strenuous  soul  finds  its  own  help.  The  trial  of 
faith  worketh  patience.  The  upward  look  of  the 
soul  gives  confidence,  and  faith  is  in  itself  a  vic- 
torious weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  wise  (i.  4,  5)- 
The  noble  self-restraint  which  the  wise  man 
exercises  over  heart  and  tongue  becomes  a  source 
of  strength.  Moreover,  we  are  not  solitary 
travellers  on  the  road.  Around  us  are  our 
brothers,  one  with  us  in  aim,  in  confidence,  in 
suffering  (v.  10).  When  we  face  the  trial,  it  is 
well  to  console  our  fears  and  to  check  our  pride 
by  remembering,  as  another  apostle  said,  that  the 
same  afflictions  are  accomplished  in  our  brethren. 
Lastly,  there  is  prayer,  the  never-failing  refuge  of 
tried  and  tempted  souls.  "  If  any  of  you  lack 
wisdom  let  him  ask  "  (i.  5  and  v,  16). 

Thus,  if  character  be  the  end  of  life,  the 
hindrances  to  the  pursuit  of  this  end  must  not 
be  evaded  but  encountered,  for  thus  only  can  the 
work  within  be  perfected.  Patience,  moreover, 
sees  the  many  helps  by  the  way  and  uses  them 
cheerfully  and  earnestly — and  then  not  for  our 
own  sake  alone,  but  for  the  sake  of  others ;  for 
the  end  of  life  is  not  achieved  simply  by  setting 


30         AVISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

before  us  the  formation  of  character  as  our  aim. 
The  formation  of  character  is  the  end  of  hfe,  but 
we  shall  best  fulfil  that  end  by  setting  before  our 
thoughts  that  other  purpose  of  our  existence, 
viz.,  ministry.  God  will  ripen  the  characters  of 
those  who  seek  to  use  their  life  in  purity  and 
service.  We  are  to  realise  that  the  end  of  life  is 
character,  for  so  we  shall  live  by  faith ;  but  we 
are  happiest  if  we  set  before  us  service  as  our 
vocation.  In  proportion  as  we  forget  ourselves 
in  ministering  to  others,  do  we  foster  that  character 
which  most  nearly  resembles  heaven, 

Now  it  is  out  of  his  strong  realisation  that 
character  is  the  true  end  of  life  that  the  teaching 
of  St.  James  on  other  matters  gains  so  much  force. 
Out  of  this  springs  what  we  may  call  his  philosophy 
of  life  and  the  recognition  of  it  enters  into  his 
views  on  two  great  topics,  which  we  shall  note 
later — man  and  God. 

What  is  his  philosophy  of  life  ? 

He  counsels  as  we  have  seen  a  noble  courage 
in  facing  the  oppositions  and  the  encounter.  The 
storms,  he  says,  are  good.  The  good  sailor  is  he 
who  is  dandled  in  the  tempest,  and  has  learned 
quietude  of  spirit    amid  the  restlessness  of  the 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  31 

waves.  The  good  soldier  is  he  who  has  known 
the  bitterness  and  peril  of  the  field.  The  good 
man  is  he  who  has  been  trained  to  confidence  in 
trial. 

He  avoids  in  his  philosophy  of  life  the  extremes 
of  indolent  optimism  and  of  angry  pessimism.  We 
are  all  tempted  to  onesidedness,  and  we  measure 
life  too  often  by  our  most  recent  experience.  In 
health  and  prosperity,  with  a  quick  and  even 
flowing  blood  coursing  in  our  veins,  we  declare 
it  to  be  the  best  possible  world.  In  pain  and 
under  pressure  of  anxiety,  we  ask  why  we  are 
born  into  this  worst  of  all  worlds. 

St.  James  faces  the  dark  things — yes,  life  is 
transitory.  It  is  a  mere  vapour  which  appeareth 
for  a  little  while  and  then  vanisheth  away  (iv.  14). 
It  is  vanity,  for  its  glory  and  grace  wither  away 
(i.  9-1 1).  He  sees  clearly  the  jobbery  which 
debases  life  (ii.  8-10),  and  the  cruel  frauds  which 
add  to  its  misery  (v.  1-6).  But  in  face  of  all 
these  dark  things — vanity  and  hard  oppression — 
he  cries  "  courage."  He  ventures  to  appeal  to  the 
experience  of  his  hearers.  They  may  feel  that 
life  at  times  is  hard,  but  there  is  not  one  of  them 
whose  heart  does  not  thrill  with  admiration  of  the 


32         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

brave  man  who  bears  himself  patiently  under  trial. 
If  we  can  admire  patient  heroism,  why  should  we 
murmur  if  the  opportunity  of  admiring  what  is 
admirable  be  put  in  our  way.  "  Behold,"  he  says 
(v.  ii),  "we  count  them  happy  which  endure." 
You  cite  the  example  of  Job,  his  name  stands  for 
patience  under  trial ;  you  place  him  among  the 
great  who  have  borne  and  achieved.  Out  of  your 
admiration,  I  draw  my  argument,  and  from  it  I 
enforce  the  like  duty  on  you — "  Be  patient  there- 
fore, brethren."  His  philosophy  of  Hfe  is  quite 
clear.  Face  things  in  the  true  spirit,  and  they  will 
be  contributory  to  good.  They  will  turn  to  the 
strengthening  and  the  refining,  to  the  purifying 
and  uplifting  of  character. 

It  is  the  unworldliness  of  the  Apostle's  thoughts 
which  lies  at  the  root  of  his  equanimity.  Let  our 
view  of  the  end  of  life  be  a  selfish  or  carnal  one, 
and  then  out  of  its  failures  there  will  come  annoy- 
ance, chagrin,  or  cynicism.  The  man  who  fixes 
his  ambitions  on  some  intellectual  triumph  finds 
his  refuge  from  failure  in  a  sneer.  The  dis- 
appointed intellectualist  becomes  a  cynic.  Pessi- 
mism in  philosophy  is  full  often  the  fruit  of  an 
egotistic  spirit.     It  is  at  any  rate  worthy  of  note 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  33 

that  the  New  Testament  which  accepts  self- 
sacrifice  as  the  true  law  of  existence,  knows  no 
pessimism,  so  true  is  it  that  he  who  loses  his  life 
finds  it.  Once  reach  an  unworldly  view  of  life, 
realise  that  character  or  spiritual  progress  is  its 
real  purpose,  and  we  begin  to  understand  that 
word  of  the  Apostle — that  all  things  may  work 
together  for  good.  We  become  one  with  St. 
James,  and  are  ready  to  count  it  all  joy  when  we 
fall  into  divers  temptations,  knowing  that  the  trial 
of  faith  worketh  patience,  and  patience  is  in  a 
sense  the  architect  of  the  soul's  development.  It 
is  well,  therefore,  to  let  patience  have  her  perfect 
work  ;  for  she  brings  the  true  crown  of  life,  which 
is  not  any  dazzling  halo  or  canonised  glory,  but 
just  the  perfection  of  our  nature  to  its  true  pur- 
pose and  use,  in  the  completion  of  our  character 
in  the  image  of  Him  who  made  us. 

But  are  not  these  views  of  life  wound  up  too 
high  for  man  ?  Does  the  writer  truly  understand 
man,  that  he  urges  him  to  count  the  very  falling 
into  trouble  a  joy  ?  Is  not  such  an  one  living 
in  a  world  of  imagination,  and  among  beings 
unhke  those  whom  we  know  and  understand  ? 
The  questions  are  quite  natural ;  and  they  lead 

c 


34         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

us  to  ask,   What  were  St.   James'   views  about 


man 


His  views         Wise  meii  have  counselled  us  against  intimacies 

about  man. 

with  the  great.  If  we  would  cherish  our  happy 
hero-worship,  let  us  look  at  the  hero  from  a  dis- 
tance. No  man  is  great  to  his  valet,  and  it  is  not 
safe  to  see  even  the  greatest  and  best  man  out  of 
uniform.  Let  us  be  content  with  the  splendour 
of  the  parade-ground,  and  not  look  at  human 
nature  in  undress.  Familiarity  breeds  contempt, 
and  in  no  field  of  knowledge  does  contempt  grow 
more  rapidly  than  in  our  knowledge  of  our  fellow 
men.  To  those  who  know  men  at  a  distance 
they  may  seem  great ;  to  those  who  know  them 
near  at  hand,  they  too  often  appear  but  villainously 
made  and  to  be  mere  parodies  of  manhood. 
Ignorance  may  glorify  men,  knowledge  teaches  us 
to  despise  them.  Can  we  class  St  James  among 
the  ignorant  or  among  the  knowing  ?  His  views 
of  life  might  lead  us  to  expect  from  him  exalted 
views  of  the  courage  and  moral  capacities  of  men, 
but  this  is  not  the  case.  He  is  singularly  level- 
though  ted  and  shrewd  in  his  readings  of  men. 
He  possesses  a  clear  view  of  human  weakness. 
He  gives  us  from  time  to  time  little  vignettes  ol 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  :^5 

character,  which  reveal  a  gift  Hke  that  of  Theo- 
phrastus  or  La  Bruy^re.  Let  us  look  at  one  or 
two  of  these.  We  find  them  suggested  by  a 
sentence,  as  that  in  which  he  conjures  up  the 
image  of  the  petulant  man  (i.  13),  the  man  who 
flings  the  blame  of  his  fall  upon  the  order  of  things. 
"Let  no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted 
of  God."  No  man,  of  course,  dees  say  just  that  ; 
but  he  thinks  it.  Things  were  against  him  ;  he 
had  not  a  fair  chance ;  circumstances  should  not 
be  arranged  to  put  him  in  such  an  awkward 
position.  Like  an  angry  child,  he  beats  the  floor 
upon  which  he  has  fallen.  He  has  no  thought  of 
his  own  indolence,  self-indulgence,  passionateness, 
or  of  any  one  of  his  many  weaknesses  which 
caused  him  to  trip,  or  made  his  fall  almost  a 
matter  of  course.  Or  look  at  his  portrait  of  the 
man  who  has  never  reached  any  true  knowledge 
of  himself  (i.  23,  24).  The  world  is  a  mirror  in 
which  a  man  may  catch  reflections  of  himself; 
the  words  of  prophets  and  spiritual  teachers  give 
us  clear  images  of  ourselves  ;  but  every  one  knows 
the  man  is  remaining  persistently  self-ignorant, 
although  the  motto  "  know  thyself"  has  been 
placarded  before  his  eyes  in  the  synagogue  and" 
the  market-place. 


S6         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Again,  what  knowledge  of  human  nature's 
weaknesses  is  expressed  in  his  account  of  the 
reasons  for  the  failure  of  prayer  (iv.  1-4).  It  is 
not  lack  of  prayer  of  which  he  complains,  but 
lack  of  right  aims  in  prayer.  Men  ask  amiss. 
Their  heart's  desires  are  genuine  enough,  but 
they  are  hopelessly  worldly.  They  pray — but  for 
worldly  things,  for  the  means  of  satisfying  their 
carnal  wishes.  We  can  see  the  class  of  people 
whom  he  has  in  mind.  They  are  the  Bubb- 
Dodington  class,  who  would  chronicle  gratefully 
in  their  diary  the  answers  to  their  prayers,  when 
the  Prince  smiled  upon  them,  or  their  speculations 
turned  out  well.  They  are  unctuously  thankful, 
and  their  gratitude  to  Providence  is  as  vulgar  as 
their  desires.  Or,  once  more  (ii.  15,  16),  do  we 
not  know  the  parsimonious  benevolence  which  is 
full  of  comforting  phrases,  and  says  to  the  needy, 
"  Be  ye  warmed  and  fed  "  ?  As  we  read  the 
words,  we  know  that  Joseph  Surface  existed 
before  the  days  of  Sheridan.. 

A  writer  who  can,  by  his  phrases,  suggest 
such  pictures  of  human  character,  knows  some- 
thing of  men.  He  is  not  the  victim  of  illusions. 
The  marvel  is  that  he  does  not  exhibit  contempt 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  37 

towards  his  fellow  men.  But  there  is  not  a  trace 
of  this.  He  possesses  some  deep  conviction 
which  acts  as  a  saving  force  against  the  ready 
contempt  which  springs  from  too  intimate  a  know- 
ledge of  our  fellow  creatures — we  have  not  far  to 
seek  for  this  saving  force  in  the  Apostle.  Along 
with  a  clear  insight  into  human  nature,  he  pos- 
sesses a  profound  belief  in  the  possibilities  of 
man.  He  sees  the  paltry  greed  and  the  cowardly 
petulance  of  men,  their  easy  and  mean  self-decep- 
tion, their  persistent  worldliness,  and  their  shallow 
religion  ;  but  he  sees  that  man  was  not  born 
to  be  the  victim  of  these.  In  spite  of  all  these 
pettinesses,  and  these  subjugating  vices,  man 
comes  from  God :  in  God's  image  was  he  made, 
and  into  God's  image  he  is  content  to  grow  (iii.  9). 
He  will  outline  his  sketch  of  this  man  or  that  who 
hugs  his  pet  weakness ;  he  will  draw  his  picture 
with  a  faithful  hand,  extenuating  nothing  ;  but  he 
will  allow  no  malice,  and  at  the  thought  of  launch- 
ing curses  against  man  his  soul  rises  up  in  anger. 
Who  is  it  that  dares  to  let  loose  his  tongue  and 
curse  his  brother  man  ?  Was  he  not  made  in  the 
image  of  God  ?  His  view  of  man  is  truthful. 
He  clearly  perceives  man's  faults — nay,  he  can 


38         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

readily  rise  to  indignation  against  all  forms  of 
unrighteous  conduct !  Here  lies  the  proof  that 
he  has  not  despaired  of  his  brother  men.  We 
are  only  angry  as  long  as  we  can  hope  to  improve 
men  and  their  condition.  When  hope  goes,  anger 
dies  down,  and  we  become  cynically  indifferent. 
But  there  is  no  sign  of  this  in  St.  James.  His 
heart  is  alive ;  sympathy  can  fill  his  soul ;  he  can 
realise  the  contrast  between  what  is  and  what 
might  be.  He  is  no  pessimist  regarding  his 
fellow  men.  Seeing  how  weak  they  are,  he  can 
still  hold  strongly  by  some  greater  hope ;  but 
holding  by  such  a  hope,  he  sees  how  powerful  is 
moral  evil  in  human  life.  He  realises  the  weak- 
nesses of  men  as  we  have  seen,  but  we  should  be 
mistaken  if  we  only  viewed  St.  James  as  one  who 
saw  no  deeper  into  human  nature  than  the  pro- 
fessional delineator  of  human  character,  who  can 
shrewdly  sketch  men's  characters,  but  who  never 
seeks  to  reach  the  causes  which  lie  below  the 
surface.  The  Apostle  has  his  own  view  concern- 
ing the  origin  and  development  of  the  weak  and 
inhuman  characters  he  has  noted.  Sin,  said 
Coleridge,  is  evil  having  an  origin.  If  we  can 
touch  the  origin  of  the  conditions  we  deplore,  we 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  39 

have  taken  one  great  and  important  step  in  know- 
ledge. 

The  origin  of  moral  evil  is,  according  to  St.  Views  on 

moral 

James,  the  prevalence  of  unrestrained  desire,  evii. 
Things  we  may  be  tempted  by,  objects  may 
attract,  but  the  power  of  the  temptation  lies  in 
our  desires — our  lusts  are  our  real  tempters. 
Every  man  when  he  is  tempted  is  drawn  aside  of 
his  own  lust  and  enticed.  Lust  leads  to  sin,  and 
sin  leads  to  death  (i.  13-16).  This  is  what  we 
may  call  St.  James'  pedigree  of  sin  and  death. 
Your  death,  in  his  view,  is  not,  I  imagine,  the 
physical  death,  though  ph3'sical  death  often  results 
from  uncurbed  indulgences.  There  is  a  worse 
death  than  the  death  which  is  the  common  lot  of 
all.  There  is  a  moral  death :  this  death  follows 
when  the  stifled  conscience  speaks  no  more,  when 
the  man  who  has  surrendered  himself  to  the 
guidance  of  desire  has  not  only  forgotten  God, 
but  has  become  heedless  of  the  sorrows  of  his 
brother  man,  callous  and  indifferent  to  the  claims 
of  humanity.  Such  a  man  is  dead  indeed,  for  he 
has  exiled  his  spirit  and  affections  from  the  family 
of  God.  Who  can  say  after  such  a  picture  that 
the  Apostle  takes  only  a  surface  view  of  moral 


St.  Paul 


40         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

evil  ?  Who  does  not  realise  that  he  has  pene- 
trated the  spiritual  depths  of  human  nature  ?  He 
sees  clearly  the  working  of  a  law  which  can  de- 
moralise the  soul,  and  he  warns  men  that  the 
indulgence  of  light  desires  may  end  in  a  spiritual 
captivity  more  gloomy  than  that  of  Egypt. 

Here  we  may  pause  for  a  moment  to  reflect.    It 
*"<*  has  often  been  said   that  St.  Paul  and  St.  James 

St.  James, 

teach  not  only  different  but  contradictory  views  of 
Christianity.  It  cannot  have  escaped  even  the 
superficial  reader  that  they  are  men  of  entirely 
different  gifts,  and  of  widely  divergent  t3'^pes  of 
thought ;  but  they  are  brought  together  by  one 
very  strong  bond — attachment — to  a  common 
Master.  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  to  St.  Paul  the  one 
in  whom  all  fulness  dwells,  is  to  St.  James  the 
Lord  of  Glory.  Now  all  those  who  are  brought 
into  the  discipleship  of  Christ  become  earnest 
after  righteousness — moral  evil  becomes  the  one 
evil  to  such.  Poverty,  pain,  and  shame  are  trials 
in  their  view — they  are  not  evil  as  sin  is  evil. 
Moral  evil  is  the  one  hateful  thing ;  in  moral 
weakness  and  wrong  lies  the  only  defilement. 
According  to  St.  John,  sin  is  impossible  to  the 
truly  heavenly  nature  (i  John  ii.  4;  iii.  9).     He 


HIS  PHILOSOPHY  OF  LIFE  41 

that  "  is  born  of  God  sinneth  not  "  (i  John  v.  18). 
That  is  as  clear  to  him  as  that  in  God  is  no  dark- 
ness at  all.  St.  Paul  cries  :  "  How  shall  we  that 
are  dead  to  sin  live  an^^  longer  therein  ?  "  (Rom. 
vi.  2.)  Similarly  St.  James  is  earnest  that 
Christian  men  shall  realise  sin  as  the  evil  thing. 
There  must  be  no  casting  of  blame  upon  circum- 
stances (i.  13).  They  ought  to  recognise  the  de- 
moralised desires  which  lead  to  that  dark  thing 
sin  (i.  14,  15),  Thus  the  Christian  Apostles  are 
at  one  in  their  abhorrence  of  moral  evil.  But  the 
agreement  between  St,  Paul  and  St.  James  is 
even  closer  than  this.  In  the  view  of  both,  sin 
operates  as  a  kind  of  law.  It  is  not  a  series  of 
isolated  acts.  Wherever  moral  evil  works,  it 
works  as  a  force,  which  shows  itself  in  action,  but 
which  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  action. 
In  St.  James'  view  it  is  ill-regulated  or  ungoverned 
desire  (i.  14-16)  which  works  as  a  misleading 
force.  In  the  view  of  St.  Paul,  desire  too  lies  at 
the  root  of  the  matter.  He  tells  us  (Rom.  vii. 
7,  8)  that  he  had  not  known  sin  but  by  the  law, 
but  when  the  law  declared  "  thou  shalt  not  covet," 
he  realised  that  there  were  manifold  desires 
within  him  which   lead    to   sin.     Both  Apostles 


42         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

recognise  the  part  which  ungoverned  lust  plays 
in  the  tragedy  of  sin  ;  both  recognise  that  there  is 
a  method  of  operation  in  moral  evil — a  law  of  sin 
in  our  members  (Rom.  vii.  23).  Whatever  differ- 
ences there  are  between  St.  James  and  St.  Paul, 
they  are  at  one  in  their  recognition  of  the  force 
and  shame  of  sin ;  they  are  at  one  in  that  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness  which  carries  their 
Master's  benediction  (St.  Matt.  v.  6). 


CHAPTER  III 

HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD 

There  remains  yet  one  question  for  us  to  ask 
before  we  close  this  survey  of  St.  James'  teaching. 
We  have  asked,  What  were  his  views  of  life  ? 
What  were   his  views   of  man  ?     We  now  ask,    . 
What  were  his  thoughts  about  God  ? 

This  is  the  supreme  question,  however  we  may   ideas  of 

God  are 

reach  it;  for  the  answer  to  it  must  influence  our  central  to 

life 

feelings  and  ideas  on  many  other  matters.  In  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  the  thought  of  God  held 
the  central  place.  It  was  the  axle  on  which  all 
human  Hfe  ought  to  revolve;  it  was  the  thought 
out  of  which  all  moral  conduct  seemed  to  emerge, 
for  it  was  the  heart  of  the  moral  law.  Take  it 
away  and  the  commandments  become,  if  not  value- 
less, at  least  meaningless.  The  first  and  great 
commandment  was,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 


44         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

and  with  all  thy  mind."  (Matt.  xxii.  ^7.)  The 
love  which  Christ  here  set  forth  as  the  pivot  of 
all  worthy  obedience  was  a  love  which  in  His 
view  was  spontaneous.  Our  Lord  knew  enough 
of  human  nature  to  know  that  love  could  not  be 
enforced  :  the  heart  with  all  its  waywardness  and 
foolishness  was  yet  free.  The  commandment  to 
love,  however,  was  not  unreasonable ;  it  did  not 
stand  as  a  coercive  fiat :  it  stood,  as  it  were, 
rooted  in  the  nature  of  things.  Those  who  were 
taught  to  pray  **  Our  Father  "  were  taught  to  see  in 
God  the  Fountain  of  their  being,  the  author  of  all 
light,  joy,  and  capacity ;  the  One  whose  love  was 
the  provoking  cause  of  all  other  love ;  the  One, 
therefore,  to  whom  the  hearts  and  souls  of  men 
turned  as  it  were  by  a  law  of  their  being ;  God, 
the  Father  of  the  soul,  was  the  only  final  and 
complete  resting-place  of  the  soul.  The  soul, 
though  it  knew  not  the  meaning  of  its  thirst,  was 
yet,  like  the  Psalmist's,  athirst  for  the  living  God. 
For  it  there  was  no  other  refuge,  and  therefore 
the  awakened  spirit  could  cry  :  "  Whom  have  I  in 
heaven  but  Thee  ?  And  there  is  none  upon  earth 
that  I  desire  beside  Thee  :  my  heari^  and  my  flesh 
faileth,  but  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart  and 


HIS  THOUGHTS  x\BOUT  GOD  45 

my  portion  for  ever."  (Psalm  Ixxiii.  25,  26.)  When 
we  realise  this  fundamental  relation  between  the 
soul  and  God,  we  feel  how  natural  indeed  is 
Christ's  declaration  that  the  first  and  great  com- 
mandment is,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  " ;  for  the  loving  of  God  is  just  the  realisa- 
tion of  what  He  is  to  us  :  it  is  the  realisation  that 
there  is  no  true  life  without  Him,  that  in  Him  we 
do  most  truly  live,  move,  and  have  our  being. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  a  vain  thing  to  ask  what  They  influ- 
ence our 
are  a  man's  thoughts  of  God.     If  God  be  to  us  a  views  of 

far-off  sovereign,  "  wrapped  in  the  solitary  ampli-  things 

tudes  of  boundless  space,"  He  will  be  but  a  misty 

and  fearsome  figure  which  occasionally  projects 

the  dark  shadow  of  Hmiself  across  our  life.     If 

God  be  to  us  the  inexorable  judge  who  knows  no 

mercy  and  can  show  no  pity,  then  we  shall  regard 

Him  as  little  other  than  that  inevitable  fate  which 

can  crush  but  cannot  redeem  us.     But  if  God  be 

the  joyous,  active,  loving,  wise,  and  just  being, 

who  has  placed  us  in  the  world,  because  He  loves 

us,  for  our  good,  making  it  a  world  of  education, 

and  enabling  us  through  the  very  vicissitudes  of 

things  to  climb  up  into  His  likeness ;   if  He  be 

the  God  who  not  only  makes  a  goal  for  us,  but 


46         ^VISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

seeks  to  co-operate  with  us  in  reaching  that 
goal,  then  He  is  one  with  whom  we  can  have 
personal  relationship,  and  the  realisation  of  Him 
in  His  wisdom  and  goodness  is  as  new  strength 
to  our  life. 
St. James'  It  is  then  well  to  ask  What  are  St.  James' 
IboutGod.  thoughts  about  God?  If  I  mistake  not,  St. 
James'  thoughts  about  God  range  themselves 
in  three  groups — God  is  light ;  God  is  righteous  ; 
God  is  love.  We  do  not,  it  is  true,  find  these 
statements  in  so  many  words,  but  the  drift  of 
St.  James'  teaching  on  the  subject  will  be  found, 
as  we  proceed,  to  be  embodied  in  these  three 
propositions. 
God  is  We  feel  that  we  are  not  overstating  St.  James' 

position  in  this  case.  He  does  not,  like  St.  John, 
declare  at  once  God  is  Light  (i  John  i.  5),  but  he 
does  give  utterance  to  the  remarkable  and  incon- 
testable saying,  "  Every  good  gift  and  every 
perfect  boon  is  from  above,  coming  down  from 
the  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  can  be  no  varia- 
tion, neither  shadow  that  is  cast  by  turning" 
(i.  17).  He  who  is  the  Father  of  lights  is  Him- 
self a  light  which  knows  no  change,  and  where 
He  is  no  shadows  fall.     The  shadows  which  drop 


light. 


HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD  47 

across  our  pathway  and  which  cast  obscurity  upon 
our  minds  arise  from  our  position  in  this  world  ot 
trial.  The  shadows  are  where  we  stand,  and  not 
where  God  is. 

It  is  true  enough  that  there  are  dark  things  in 
the  world  which  are  very  real  to  us,  and  which 
are  meant — shall  we  say  ? — to  be  realised  by  us. 
Some  of  these  we  can  understand.  We  can,  for 
instance,  understand  that  suffering  may  subserve 
good  ;  and  we  know  that  the  discipline  of  hardship 
strengthens  and  consolidates  character.  But  there 
are  other  phenomena  which  appear  to  us  as  viola- 
tions of  moral  order.  At  times  it  seems  as  though 
God  tolerated  evil,  and  as  though  the  laws  of  the 
world  worked  in  favour  of  the  bad.  The  faith  of 
St.  James  lifts  him  above  this  plane  of  thought ; 
he  believes  that  in  the  presence  of  God  there 
dwells  a  light  in  which  all  dark  things  are 
absorbed ;  or  rather,  that  could  we  be  trans- 
ported to  the  platform  of  heaven  every  shadow 
cast  by  the  unstable  things  of  earth  would  dis- 
appear. The  shadows  are  here,  where  we  are  : 
in  the  centre  of  all  things,  by  the  throne  on 
which  God  sits,  there  are  no  shadows.  In  other 
words,  St.  James  teaches  what  St.  John  teaches 


48         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

— that  God  is  Light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness 
at  all  (i  John  i.  s). 

Naturally,  at  first  sight,  this  seems  to  be  more 
speculative  than  practical.  It  may  be  true  that 
there  is  a  sunlit  centre  of  all  things  which  is  free 
from  shadow,  and  touched  by  no  darkness  at  all ; 
but  such  a  place  is  far  removed  from  us :  from 
the  nature  of  the  case  it  is  inaccessible  to  us  who 
are  creatures  of  time  and  space,  doomed  to  live 
amid  the  ever-shifting  lights  which  create  ever- 
lengthening  shadows  as  they  move.  Does  it  help 
us  very  much  to  be  told  of  that  noontide  spot 
which  can  never  be  invaded  by  darkness  ?  But 
to  think  thus  is  to  forget  the  form  in  which  St. 
James  has  put  his  thoughts.  To  him,  indeed,  God 
is  Light,  and  from  His  presence  all  darkness  is 
banished.  But  he  does  not  suggest  this  arid  truth 
as  the  ground  of  comfort.  He  is  clearly  trying 
to  make  his  disciples  realise  and  rest  upon  the 
character  of  God.  He  is  dealing  with  the  case 
of  the  man  who  is  inclined  to  throw  the  blame  of 
his  failures  upon  God :  "  Let  no  man  say  when 
he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted  of  God."  Let  such 
a  man  look  into  his  own  nature,  and  search  there 
for  the  causes  of  failure.     He  will  find  that  not 


HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD  49 

God  but  desire  has  been  the  tempter.  Looking 
within,  a  man  will  find  strenuously  tempting 
desires ;  looking  above,  he  may  realise  that  God, 
from  His  very  nature,  can  give  forth  good  and 
only  good.  The  good  which  God  gives  may  be 
misused  by  man,  but  it  is  not  therefore  any  the 
less  good.  He  gives  the  lights  which  rule  the 
day  and  the  night.  Whatever  beautiful,  pure, 
and  brilliant  power  shines  on  the  world,  is  a  gift 
of  God ;  and  more,  is,  if  rightly  understood,  the 
pledge  of  His  goodness.  It  is  to  the  changeless 
goodness  of  the  divine  character  that  St.  James 
leads  us  back.  The  sunlit  and  shadowless  centre 
of  all  things  is  not  mere  cloudless  splendour ;  it  is 
unsullied  good.  The  security  of  man  does  not 
lie  in  the  greatness  of  God,  still  less  in  any  barren 
truth  which  may  be  advanced  about  Him :  it  lies 
in  the  character  of  God.  We  can  rest  secure, 
because  He  is  what  He  is :  He  is  good  in  His 
very  nature,  and  therefore  it  is  inconceivable  that 
He  should  tempt  any  man  to  evil.  God  being 
God,  man  may  feel  sure  that  the  laws  of  life's 
game  are  fair  and  just.  The  light  in  which  He 
dwells  is  no  mere  dazzling  splendour:  it  is  the 
light  of  goodness,  truth,  right,  justice.     Thus  it  is 

D 


So         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

back  to  the  fundamental  ethics  of  existence  as 
guaranteed  by  the  Father  of  lights  that  St.  James 
goes  when  he  wishes  to  assure  men  that  they  will 
meet  with  fair  play  in  the  experiences  of  life. 

We  thus  get  to  the  second  group  of  thoughts 

about  God  which  St.  James  sets  forth.     God  is 

light ;    He  is   essentially   goodness :    it   follows, 

therefore,  that  He  is  righteous. 

God  is  This  is,  if  we  measure  it  truly,  only  an  appli- 

righteous. 

cation  or  aspect  of  the  divine  goodness.  When 
we  speak  of  God's  righteousness,  we  are  thinking 
of  the  application  of  goodness  to  the  conditions  of 
the  worlds  beneath  His  sovereignty.  Let  us 
notice  the  strong  hold  which  St.  James  has  upon 
this  idea. 

St.  James  has  been  called  the  last  of  the  pro- 
phets. We  catch  echoes  of  the  older  prophets 
in  his  thoughts  and  expressions ;  but  perhaps  still 
more  we  can  recognise  a  prevailing  tone  in  his 
letter  which  makes  us  feel  that  he  has  the  same 
spirit  which  breathed  in  Isaiah  and  Amos.  Like 
these  mentors  of  ancient  Judah  and  Israel,  St. 
James  is  saturated  with  the  conviction  of  God's 
righteousness.  We  open  his  letter  once  more 
and  we  begin  to  read.     Early  in  his  letter  he  tells 


HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD  51 

us  that  the  very  purpose  of  our  existence  is  to 
fulfil  the  righteousness  of  God.  Thus  he  counsels 
patience,  moderation,  caution  in  utterance,  the 
avoidance  of  the  angry,  tumultuous  spirit  (i.  19, 
20) ;  and  as  the  sufficient  reason  for  not  encou- 
raging the  angry  spirit  he  says,  it  worketh  not 
the  righteousness  of  God.  "Let  every  man  be 
swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak,  slow  to  wrath,  for 
the  wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the  righteousness 
of  God."  In  the  next  chapter  we  see  how  deeply 
he  realises  the  significance  of  the  divine  righteous- 
ness ;  it  demands  not  a  mere  external  conformity 
to  commands,  but  an  inward  harmony  with  the 
spirit  of  which  all  laws  are  the  expressions.  To 
fail  in  one  point  is  to  fail  in  all,  because  the 
failure  betrays  the  lack  of  a  spirit  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  eternal  and  governing  righteous- 
ness. "  For  whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law, 
and  yet  stumble  in  one  point,  he  is  become  guilty 
of  all  "  (ii.  10),  In  the  same  strain,  he  insists  on 
righteousness  as  a  practical  thing  (ii.  15-25); 
and  more  striking  is  the  way  in  which  he  asso- 
ciates righteousness  with  wisdom.  The  heavenly 
wisdom  is  not  successful  in  ingenious  speculative 
theories,  still  less  is  it  worldly  cleverness,  or  a 


52          AVISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

practical  dexterity  in  the  management  of  affairs 
which  so  often  passes  for  wisdom.  The  true  and 
divine  wisdom  consists  in  the  possession  of  those 
ethical  quaUties  which  bring  man  into  harmony 
with  the  righteous  order  of  God.  The  wisdom 
that  is  from  above  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable, 
gentle,  and  easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy 
and  good  fruits,  without  variance,  and  without 
hypocrisy.  And  the  fruit  of  righteousness  is 
sown  in  peace  for  them  that  make  peace  (iii.  17, 
18).  Lasth',  his  perception  of  the  righteous  rule 
of  God  finds  expression  in  his  indignant  protest 
against  the  oppressive  frauds  of  the  rich.  As  he 
sees  the  impunity  with  which  such  high-handed 
tyranny  is  carried  on,  the  prophetic  spirit  in  him 
takes  fire ;  his  vision  becomes  clear ;  he  sees 
that  the  eternal  order  of  righteousness  cannot  be 
defied  for  ever;  he  sees  that,  unrecognised  by 
the  selfish  oppressor,  the  unfailing  justice  of  God 
draws  near.  "  The  judge  standeth  before  the 
doors"  (v.  I- 10). 

As  we  weigh  these  passages  we  understand 
how  fully  persuaded  the  writer  was  of  the  change- 
less justice  of  the  Almighty,  how  truly  his  soul  is 
filled  with  the  faith  that  God  is  righteous. 


HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD  53 

There  is  no  explicit  statement  of  this  truth  God  is  love, 
made  by  St.  James ;  and  we  might  at  first  sight 
be  disposed  to  doubt  whether  his  teaching  impHed 
such  a  view  of  the  divine  nature,  and  his  tone  of 
thought,  it  might  be  said,  is  severer  than  that  of 
the  Apostle  of  love  :  he  sees  the  law  of  right  and 
justice  :  he  is  full  of  a  prophet's  wrath  against  all 
unrighteousness  :  but  does  he  apprehend  the  deep 
and  all-embracing  truths  of  the  divine  love  ? 

First,  let  us  understand  what  we  mean  by  love. 
No  New  Testament  writer  thinks  of  love  in  a 
merely  setimental  wa}^ ;  to  none  of  them  is  love  a 
kind  of  flabby  fondness.  Love  to  them  is  an 
urgent  and  earnest  force,  which  never  lowers  its 
ideals  for  the  sake  of  winning  the  affections  of  its 
object ;  it  is  a  spirit  which  seeks  only  and  can 
only  seek  the  real  and  abiding  good  of  those  it 
loves.  It  is  a  spirit,  therefore,  which  can  display 
itself  in  severe  guise ;  it  can  arm  itself  with  the 
rod  ;  it  is  ready  to  scourge  forth  invading  wrong 
from  the  sacred  precincts.  We  can  easily  satisfy 
ourselves  of  the  truth  of  this  view.  St.  Paul  and 
St.  John  alike  accept  love  as  the  essential  basis  of 
the  divine  character  and  of  the  Christian  character. 
If  St.  Paul  does  not  say  frequently,  as  St.  John 


54         WISDOM  OK  JAMES  THE  JUST 

does,  God  is  Love,  he  yet  realises  that  the  security 
of  the  soul  lies  in  the  love  of  God  ;    from  that 
nothing  can  separate  us;  none  of  the  trials  and 
dangers  of  life  can  part  us  from  that  great  love 
which  holds  its  children  safe  (Rom.  viii.  39) ;  but 
this  love   of   God  can  burn   like  fire.      St.  Paul 
recognises  that   there  is  a  fire  which  shall    try 
every  man's  work  of  what  sort  it  is  (i  Cor.  iii.  13)  ; 
he  is  persuaded  that   the  unrighteous  shall  not 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  (i   Cor.  vi.  9,  10). 
Similarly,  the  apostle  who  so  often  reiterates  that 
God  is  Love,  is  earnest  to  warn  us  that  as  God  is 
Light  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all,  so  if  we 
say  that  we  have  fellowship  with  Him,  and  walk 
in    the  darkness,  we   lie,  and    do  not  the  truth 
(i  John   i.  5,  6).     Love,  as  the  apostles  under- 
stand it,  is  a  purifying  spirit.     If  God  is  a  con- 
suming fire,  the  love  of  God  also  burns  like  a  fire 
in   Christ-like  souls  and  burns  up  all  unworthy 
desires.     "  To  this  end  was  the  Son  of  God  " — 
and  in  Him  also  the  love  of  God — "  manifested, 
that   He  might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil." 
(I  John  iii.  8.)     Practical  love  becomes  the  test 
of  Christian  character.     "  Let  us  not  love  in  word, 
neither  with  the  tongue  ;  but  in  deed  and  truth. 


HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD  55 

Hereby  shall  we  know  that  we  are  of  the  truth, 
and  shall  assure  our  hearts  before  him.  "  (i  John 
iii.  18,  19.)  We  need  not  seek  further.  We  have 
said  enough  to  show  that  love  is  no  mere  senti- 
ment in  the  thoughts  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  John. 
They  are  at  one  with  St.  James  in  insisting  that 
love  shall  show  itself  in  action.  They  who  con- 
ceive thus  of  Christian  life  and  the  action  of  love 
in  it,  think  of  God  as  the  light  which  will  endure 
no  darkness,  and  of  the  divine  love  as  a  flame 
which  will  burn  up  all  that  is  alien  to  itself,  and 
thus  purify  and  elevate  all  that  is  heavenlike  in 
the  souls  of  men. 

Thus  St.  Paul,  St.  John,  and  St.  James  are  at 
one  in  their  realisation  of  the  stern  element  which 
characterises  divine  love ;  but  does  St.  James 
recognise,  as  the  other  apostles  do,  that  love  lies 
behind  this  stern  quality  ?  Let  us  look  at  the 
words  of  St.  James  when  he  speaks  of  God.  He 
writes  as  one  who  is  persuaded  that  God  is  the 
God  of  Charity.  "  Pure  religion  and  undefiled 
before  God  and  the  Father  is  this.  To  visit  the 
fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction  "  (i.  26, 
27).  Can  we  read  this  without  feeling  how 
completely  St.  James  realises  the  loving  fatherli- 


56         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

ness  of  God  ?  In  the  divine  thoughts  the  truest 
Christian  worship  is  this  ministration  of  love  to 
the  needy.  Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  he  views 
God  as  the  Father  of  Charity  ?  The  sight  of  the 
fatherless  must  awaken  in  the  breast  of  those  who 
know  God  the  recollection  of  the  fatherliness  of 
His  nature.  Is  not  this  saying  in  another  form 
that  God  is  love  ?  And  when  we  ask  how  far, 
according  to  St.  James'  thought,  this  divine  love 
reaches,  we  find  the  answer  that  it  embraces  all. 
God,  according  to  St.  James,  claims  a  fatherhood 
as  wide  as  His  lordship.  If  His  kingdom  and 
lordship  are  over  all,  so  is  His  fatherhood,  for  so 
we  find  him  writing  with  strong  and  unqualified 
words  in  chap.  iii.  9,  when  he  is  censuring  those 
who  curse  their  fellow  men.  "Therewith  {i.e., 
our  tongues)  bless  we  the  Lord  and  Father ;  and 
therewith  curse  we  men,  which  are  made  after  the 
likeness  of  God."  He  sees  in  all  men  the  mark 
of  their  parentage :  all  are  sheltered  by  the  love 
of  Him  who  is  Father  of  all,  and  all  should  be 
sheltered  from  the  venom  of  a  brother's  tongue. 
Are  we  not  right  in  sa3ang  that  St.  James,  like 
St.  Paul  and  St.  John,  realises  the  great  and 
immortal  truth  that  God  is  Love  ? 


HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD  57 

There  is  a  practical  conclusion  to  which  we  are  Life  i 
led.  It  is  a  matter  of  some  moment  that  we 
should  see  things  through  the  proper  medium. 
The  most  beautiful  landscape  seen  through 
coloured  glass  may  seem  crude,  garish  and  un- 
natural. 

All  seems  infected  that  the  infected  spy, 
As  all  seems  yellow  to  the  jaundiced  eye. 

The  man  of  an  avaricious  temperament  sees 
everything  through  the  medium  of  his  own 
covetousness  :  he  cannot  see  things  in  their  true 
proportion  ;  they  take  distorted  shapes  ;  the  most 
beautiful  things  appear  to  him  deformed,  as  the 
human  figure  is  made  ludicrously  misshapen 
when  seen  in  a  convex  mirror.  What  medium 
can  be  found  that  will  register  things  aright,  and 
enable  us  to  see  ourselves,  our  lives,  and  our 
fellow  men  as  they  truly  are  ?  How  can  we 
avoid  the  false  impressions  which  are  not  only 
painful,  but  which  become  the  sources  of  so 
many  false  judgments?  For  this,  it  is  needful 
that  we  should  view  everything  in  God. 

\'iew  life  through  the  medium  of  self,  and  we 
find  it   disappointing;  our  expectations   are  not 


58         AVISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

fulfilled,  our  dreams  vanish  in  thin  air,  our  self- 
love  is  wounded,  and  we  become  one  of  the  many 
who  cry  that  life  is  a  snare,  a  delusion,  a  freak,  a 
cheat.     But  let  us  change  the  medium.     Let  us 
view  life  in  God,  then  it  is  an  experience  which 
comes  to    us^  and   which  is  accompanied    by    a 
purpose.  When  we  view  life  through  the  medium 
of  self,  we  measure  its  success  by  our  fortune. 
When  we  view  it  in  God,  we  measure  it  by  our 
character.    We  esteem  its  value,  appraising  it  by  a 
moral  not  a  material  standard.    Then  the  changes 
which  befall  us,  the  unexpected  joy,  the  thwarted 
wish,  the  unsought  friendship,  the  broken  dream, 
the  sorrow   that  pierces  the  heart,    the   human 
kindliness  which   revives  it,  all  minister  to  our 
growth,  all  work  for  good ;  their  co-operant  influ- 
ence produces  the  harmonious  result  which  God 
sees  now  and  which  we  shall  see  hereafter.     Life 
is    no   longer   incomplete ;    we    shall   not    image 
it    as    a    shattered    column,    but    as    an    edifice 
upon  which  the  hand  of  God's  skill  can  lay  the 
topmost  stone  amid   the  shoutings  of  those   who 
rejoice  in  its  beauty.     It  is  thus  that  St.  James 
views  life.     He  sees  that  it  is  short  and  that  to 
covetous  natures  it  will  vanish  as  a  vapour;  but 


HIS  THOUGHTS  ABOUT  GOD  59 

when  he  sees  it  in  God,  he  sees  the  structure  of 
the  soul  which  is  rising  behind  the  scaffolding  of 
life's  experiences.  Seen  through  the  world- 
medium,  it  dissolves  as  a  cloud  ;  seen  in  God,  it 
is  the  building  of  a  city  which  abides  through  the 
eternal  years  as  all  things  that  partake  of  the 
divine  nature  must. 

View  man  also  in  God.  To  view  man  outside 
God  is  to  create  despair ;  it  produces  a  whimsical 
cynicism,  which  is  half  bitterly  contemptuous 
because  of  man's  littleness  or  meanness,  and  half- 
humorously  pathetic  because  of  the  brevity  of 
human  life  :  men  seem  to  be  but  cardboard  figures 
in  a  cardboard  pageant ;  ludicrous,  because  their 
colouring  and  airs  are  so  magnificent  and  they 
themselves  so  unsubstantial.  But  let  us  change 
the  medium,  let  us  view  man  in  God ;  then  we 
recognise  him  as  the  offspring  of  divinest  wisdom 
and  divinest  love.  Can  we  scoff  any  more,  as  we 
realise  that  beneath  the  transient  robe  of  his 
bodily  frame  there  is  a  character  which  may  be 
moulded  through  the  experiences  of  sorrow, 
failure,  joy,  and  triumph  into  something  noble, 
into  a  being  capable  of  courageous  endeavour, 
patient  endurance,  heroic   self-sacrifice,   devoted 


6o         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

and  uncomplaining  service  in  spite  of  reproaches, 
obloquies,  misunderstandings  ?  Thien  the  squalid 
trappings  of  life  may  conceal  souls  that  are  grow- 
ing in  saintship,  and  the  very  least  and  obscurest 
of  the  sons  of  men  may  be  ripening  into  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  This  is,  I 
think,  one  lesson  from  St.  James'  teaching.  It  is 
because  he  sees  life  and  men  in  God  that  there- 
fore he  can  be  indignant  without  being  contemp- 
tuous ;  he  can  preach  patience  without  leading  to 
despair,  and  without  ignoring  the  trials  of  the 
present,  he  can  forecast  the  splendour  of  the 
future. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  WRITER  AND  THOSE  TO  WHOM  HE  WROTE 

We  have  glanced  rapidly  at  the  views  of  St.  James 
upon  one  or  two  important  mutters,  and  the  time 
has  come  for  us  to  follow  more  carefully  the 
course  of  his  letter,  and  see  how  he  seeks  to 
instruct  and  help  his  fellow  Christians. 

We  open  his  letter,  and  we  are  brought  to  a 
pause  upon  the  threshold.  We  read,  "James,  a 
servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to 
the  twelve  tribes  which  are  scattered  abroad, 
greeting."  These  words  are  very  simple,  but  we 
pause,  because  we  ask  ourselves  who  is  this 
James,  and  to  whom  is  he  writing  ?  Let  us 
endeavour  shortly  to  answer  these  two  questions. 

We  have  seen  what  manner  of  man  he  was,  we 
have  recognised  his  love  of  nature,  his  shrewd 
and  humorous  interest  in  his  fellow  men,  his 
reticent  but  passionate  attachment  to  his  Master, 


62  WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

and  his  unhesitating  confidence  in  the  power  of 
right;  but  we  have  said  nothing  about  his 
personal  history,  we  have  made  as  yet  no  attempt 
to  identify  him  with  any  of  those  who  bore  the 
name  of  James  in  early  Christian  days. 

But  before  we  attempt  to  answer  the  question, 
"  Who  is  this  James  ?  "  a  preliminary  caution  is 
needed. 
Truth  more       No  doubt  an  answer  to  such  a  question  is  full 

than  the 

messenger,  of  interest ;  it  satisfies  our  curiosity,  and  it  gives, 
perhaps,  some  added  personal  attraction  to  our 
study  of  the  letter,  if  we  can  call  up  historical 
facts  about  the  writer.  But  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  the  ethical  and  spiritual  value  of  the  letter  is 
one  thing,  and  the  historical  or  critical  interest  is 
another,  and  we  ought  to  be  able  to  separate  these 
aspects  from  one  another.  It  is  too  much  our 
habit  to  judge  what  we  read  by  the  name  of  the 
author  rather  than  the  author  by  the  book  we 
read.  We  accept  as  good  what  comes  to  us 
bearing  a  familiar  name:  thus  we  think  more  of 
the  name  than  of  the  good.  We  should  rather 
invert  the  process,  and  ask  first,  Is  it  good  ?  and 
then,  Who  wrote  it  ? — instead  of  making  our 
judgment  upon  good  or  bad  vacillate  till  we  are 


TO  \^'HOM  HE  WROTE  63 

led  captive  by  an  author's  name.  Does  it  seem 
that  in  saying  this  we  are  disparaging  overmuch 
the  authority  of  great  names  ?  If  it  should  seem 
so  to  any,  let  me  recall  Christ's  indignant  expos- 
tulation— "Wh}'  even  of  yourselves  judge  ye  not 
what  is  right  ?"  (LuivC  xii.  57.)  Let  me  recall, 
also,  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  was  ever  earnest 
that  men  should  concern  themselves  about  truth, 
rather  than  about  the  sources  of  truth.  Though 
He  came  down  from  heaven,  and  was  the  supreme 
revealer  of  the  Father  to  men,  yet  He  sought  to 
turn  aside  the  questions  of  curiosity.  He  would 
not  answer  him  who  asked,  "  Whence  art  thou  ?  " 
{John  xix.  9.)  He  knew  that  those  who  sought 
truth  would  grasp  truth,  and  that  those  who 
grasped  truth  would  soon  find  out  whence  the 
truth  came  (John  xviii.  ^y)  ;  while  He  also  most 
sadly  knew  that  those  whose  minds  were  set  upon 
knowing  the  source  of  truth  too  often  missed  the 
truth  altogether.  His  principle  was  ever  that  an 
earnest  moral  affection  for  what  was  true  and 
good  soon  led  to  a  solution  of  questions  of  origin. 
"  My  teaching  is  not  mine,  but  His  that  sent  me. 
If  any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will,  He  shall  know 
of  the  teaching,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether 


64         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

I  speak  from  myself."  (John  vii.  \y.)  In  the  spirit 
of  the  same  principle  He  refused  to  satisfy  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  respecting  His  authority  ; 
and  threw  them  back  upon  their  consciences 
and  the  relation  of  their  consciences  to  the 
righteousness  proclaimed  by  John  the  Baptist. 
It  is,  therefore,  no  trifling  matter  to  settle  with 
ourselves  the  relationship  between  truth  and 
authorship.  There  is  a  radical  ethical  difference 
between  the  man  who  accepts  truth  because  of 
authority  and  the  man  who  accepts  authority 
because  of  truth. 
The  writer        In  our  study  wc  have  followed  the  method  of  the 

of  the 

message.  latter  man :  the  truth  has  been  first  with  us,  and 
we  can  now  gain  an  added  interest,  but  not  a 
greater  ethical  force,  to  our  study  by  asking.  Who 
was  this  James  ? 

The  most  probable  answer  (though  in  this  case 
probability  cannot  even  suggest  approximation  to 
certainty)  is  that  the  writer  was  that  James  who 
was  known  as  the  "  brother  of  the  Lord."  We 
must  not  confuse  him  in  our  minds  with  one  of 
those  brothers  James  and  John,  the  sons  of 
Zebedee,  whom  our  Lord  named  Sons  of  Thunder. 
The  writer   we  have  to   deal  with  is  one  who, 


TO  WHOM  HE  WROTE  65 

without  having  been  one  of  the  twelve,  yet 
reached  a  position  of  great  influence  among  the 
Christian  society  at  Jerusalem.  He  is  the  person 
whom  St.  Paul  tells  us  he  saw  at  Jerusalem  when 
he  spent  a  fortnight  there  in  a.d.  38 — three  years, 
as  he  tells  us,  after  his  conversion.  He  went  up 
to  Jerusalem,  and  stayed  with  St.  Peter,  but  he 
saw  no  other  apostle  except  James,  the  Lord's 
brother  (Gal.  i.  18,  19).  This  is  the  same  James 
to  whom  St.  Peter  sent  word  after  his  escape  from 
prison,  as  we  read  in  Acts  xii.  17,  a  chapter,  be  it 
noticed,  which  opens  (verse  2)  by  telling  of  the 
martyrdom  of  the  other  James,  the  brother  of 
John.  There  are  two  other  references  to  James 
which  we  must  notice.  The  15th  chapter  of  the 
Acts  tells  us  of  an  important  conference  or  council 
which  was  held  at  Jerusalem.  The  subject  under 
discussion  was  practically  the  position  of  the 
Gentile  converts  in  the  Christian  Church.  It 
met,  as  it  seems,  under  the  presidency  of  James, 
and  it  is  he  who  closes  the  discussion  and  sug- 
gests the  resolution  which  was  finally  agreed 
upon.  One  thing  will  become  clear  from  the 
narrative,  if  we  now  turn  to  the  second  reference 
to  James,  which  deserves  notice.     The  passage  is 

E 


66         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

in  Gal.  ii.  11-14.  In  it  St.  Paul  narrates  the 
troublesome  character  of  the  influence  of  certain 
people  who  came  to  Antioch  from  Jerusalem. 
The}'  caused  division  ;  they  set  up  a  fence  01 
prejudice  between  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians. 
They  were  what  have  been  called  Judaisers — i.e., 
they  insisted  that  Jewish  customs  or  ceremonial 
ordinances  ought  to  be  observed  by  Gentile 
converts ;  in  other  words,  the  Gentile  Christian 
was  to  conform  to  Jewish  religious  observances. 
Out  of  this  arose  the  first  conflict  for  freedom  in 
the  Christian  society :  the  decision  on  the 
apparently  small  questions  of  eating  and  drinking 
involved  the  whole  future  of  the  Christian  society. 
These  Judaisers  held  James  in  high  esteem  and 
reverence  :  they  were  intimate  with  him,  they 
came  to  Antioch  under  the  sanction  of  his  name. 
They  are  described  by  St.  Paul  as  those  who 
came  from  James.  This  does  not,  of  course, 
mean  that  James  approved  their  action  at  Antioch, 
but  it  does  imply  that  they  belonged  to  the  group 
of  Christians  at  Jerusalem  to  whom  James  was  a 
central  and  leading  figure ;  and  it  may  well  have 
been  that,  animated  as  they  were  by  a  fanatical 
spirit,   and    consequently  unable   to   realise   the 


TO  WHOM  HE  WROTE  67 

deeper  principles  of  action,  they  reckoned  upon 
his  sympathy  in  their  sturdy  Judaism.  At  any 
rate,  he  was  one  whose  judgment  would  have 
weight  with  them  and  with  men  of  their  school  of 
thought.  They  were  Jews  who  held  everything 
Jewish,  the  injunctions  of  the  ceremonial  as  well 
as  those  of  the  moral  law,  as  sacred.  Their  con- 
fidence in  James  arose  not  out  of  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  Jew,  but  out  of  the  fact  that  he  was  a 
devout  Jew,  who,  brought  under  the  Christian 
teaching,  had  not  flung  aside  his  Jewish  habits 
and  customs.  This  was  the  man  who  presided 
when  the  subject  of  the  status  of  Gentiles  in  the 
Christian  Church  was  formally  discussed. 

We  can  realise  the  interest  and,  indeed,  anxiety 
with  which  the  result  of  the  debate  was  awaited 
by  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians  and  their  respec- 
tive sympathisers.  To  those  whose  sympathies 
were  strongly  Jewish  it  would  seem  that  the 
dignity  and  authority  of  divinely  appointed 
ordinances  were  at  stake  ;  the  law  had  been  given 
by  Moses,  and  here  were  men  who  were  planning 
to  set  it  aside.  Their  feelings  were  akin  to  the  feel- 
ings with  which  men  who  have  been  brought  up 
to  believe  in  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Bible 


68         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

hear  of  the  results  of  modern  criticism  ;  or  to  the 
feelings  of  those  who  have  been  taught  to  believe 
that  the  Christian  Church  has  one  fixed  pattern, 
when  they  are  told  that  the  work  of  the  Spirit  is 
independent  of  stereotyped  forms.  To  such 
men  the  question  in  dispute  appeared  to  be 
whether  tlie  new  society  was  going  to  be  loyal  to 
God  or  not.  But  to  those  whose  sympathies  were 
Gentile,  the  question  was  whether  they  were  to 
accept  along  with  the  spiritual  teaching  of  Christ 
a  series  of  national  and  local  traditions.  To  such 
it  was  a  question  of  freedom.  To  us  who  look 
back  upon  it,  it  was  one  of  many  conflicts,  ever 
recurring  in  the  world's  history,  between  formalism 
and  spirituality. 
Hisstrongr        The    result   of    the    discussion    at    Jerusalem 

influence. 

(Acts  XV.)  was  a  step  towards  freedom.  Pro- 
bably the  decision  was  the  best  which  at  that 
time  could  be  arrived  at.  Violent  changes  pro- 
voke reactions,  and  violent  measures  were  skil- 
fully avoided  by  the  council.  The  attitude  of  the 
extreme  Judaisers,  who  insisted  that  Gentile 
converts  should  submit  to  the  Jewish  custom  of 
circumcision,  was  repudiated  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
on  the  question  of  meats,  an  authoritative  wish, 


TO  WHOM  HE  WROTE  69 

hardly  amounting  to  a  formal  injunction,  was  ex- 
pressed that  Gentiles  should  conform  to  the 
Jewish  custom.  This  decision  was  substantially 
the  judgment  of  James,  whose  words  were  :  "  My 
judgment  is  that  we  trouble  not  them  which  from 
among  the  Gentiles  turn  to  God ;  but  that  we 
write  unto  them,  that  they  abstain  from  the 
pollution  of  idols,  and  from  fornication,  and  from 
what  is  strangled,  and  from  blood."  (Acts  xv. 
19,  20.) 

This  judgment  could  only  come  from  one  who 
realised  the  paramount  importance  of  the  spiritual 
bond  among  men,  because  only  such  an  one  could 
have  consented  to  set  aside  so  sacred  a  rite  as 
circumcision.  On  the  other  hand,  the  judgment 
could  only  have  proceeded  from  one  also  who  not 
only  realised  the  importance  of  conciliating  the 
Jewish  party  in  the  Church,  but  who,  to  a  certain 
extent,  sympathised  with  their  views.  This  will 
be  more  evident  if  we  notice  that  in  the  circular 
letter  which  embodied  the  views  of  the  council, 
the  things  enumerated  by  St.  James,  pollution  of 
idols,  fornication,  things  strangled,  and  blood, 
are  described  as  "  necessary  "  things  (Acts  xv.  28). 
We  know  that  St.  Paul  would  never  have  described 


70         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

these  things  as  necessary  ;  his  judgment  on  things 
offered  to  idols  was  characterised  by  greater 
freedom  ;  to  him  it  was  a  matter  within  Christian 
Hbert}',  to  be  modified  by  motives  of  considera- 
tion for  weaker  brethren  (i  Cor.  viii.  1-13).  Thus 
to  a  certain  degree,  Jewish  S3mipathies  reveal 
themselves  in  the  judgment  of  James  on  this 
matter,  and  these  are  even  more  distinctly' evident 
in  the  letter  which  embodied  the  judgment.  The 
hand  which  drafted  the  letter  emphasised  the 
necessity  of  a  certain  conformit3-  to  Jewish  custom. 
This  emphasis,  though  stronger  than  the  tone  of 
St.  James's  speech,  ma}'  be  due  perhaps  to  St. 
James  himself;  for  in  the  close  of  his  speech,  he 
gave  as  his  reason  for  advising  conformity  to 
Jewish  custom,  that  "  Moses  from  generations  of 
old  hath  in  every  city  them  that  preach  him,  being- 
read  in  the  synagogue  every  Sabbath."  Clearl}' 
what  was  passing  in  his  mind  was  the  importance 
of  not  alienating  or  shocking  the  multitudes  of 
Jews  who  were  to  be  found  in  every  part  of  the 
empire.  A  Jewish  Christian  like  St.  James  would, 
in  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  be  anxious  to 
draw  all  Jews  just  as  they  were  into  the  faith  of 
Christ ;  and  while  assured  that  Christianit}'  was 


TO  WHOM  HE  WROTE  71 

for  tlic  Gentiles  also,  he  would  fain  avoid — nay, 
he  would  sensitively  refuse  to  accept — any  rapid 
or  revolutionary  change  in  customs  which  had 
become  religiously  sacred.  There  is,  therefore, 
in  the  decision  of  the  council  the  mingling  of  the 
two  elements  :  one,  the  recognition  of  the  domin- 
ant value  of  the  spiritual  tie ;  the  other,  the 
application  of  a  cautious  common  sense  to  a  very 
difficult  and  delicate  matter. 

The  reader  of  the  Epistle  of  St.  James  will  feel 
that  the  writer  of  that  letter  displa3's  both  of 
these  qualities.  He  is  emphatic  in  his  insistence 
upon  the  spiritual  aspect  of  things  (iii.  13-18); 
he  possesses  also  that  clear  and  sound  sense 
which  is  of  more  value  than  genius  in  moments 
of  crisis. 

Such,  then,  as  far  as  we  can  guess,  was  the 
writer  of  this  letter. 

The  next  question  we  ask  is.  To  whom  did  he  To  whom 

he  wrote. 

write  ?  Much  has  been  written  on  this  subject ; 
but  we  need  not  linger  over  the  answer.  Some 
have  held  that  those  who  are  addressed  were 
Jews ;  others,  that  they  were  professedly  Chris- 
tians. It  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  needful  to 
set  aside  the  simple  and   plain  meaning  of  the 


7  2         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

writer's  own  words.  He  tells  us  that  he  writes 
to  the  twelve  tribes  of  the  dispersion,  and  I  am 
quite  content  to  take  his  word  for  it.  There  is  no 
ground,  that  I  can  see,  for  not  giving  to  these 
words  their  obvious  interpretation. 

In  the  early  days  of  Christian  preaching,  the 
Christian  society  was  the  expression  of  a  religious 
movement  among  the  Jews.  The  sense  of 
nationality  was  still  strong.  The  believers  in 
Christ  were  Jews :  they  thought,  spoke  and  felt 
as  Jews  ;  they  3'-earned  to  make  their  compatriots 
sharers  of  the  new  hopes  which  Christ  had 
awakened  within  them  ;  they  still  adhered  to 
Jewish  customs ;  they  still  frequented  the  syna- 
gogue, and  went  up  on  solemn  occasions  to  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem.  It  would  not  occur  to  a 
Christian  of  this  period  to  do  otherwise  than 
address  his  countrymen  collectively  on  a  matter 
which  was  near  to  his  heart,  and  which  was  bound 
up,  as  he  believed,  with  the  best  hopes  of  Israel. 
Later,  separation  and  division  arose ;  and  Chris- 
tian writers  distinguished  between  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  between  believing  and  unbelieving  Jews. 
Of  course,  if  we  give  a  late  date  to  this  letter  of 
St.  James,  the  form  of  his  address  to  the  twelve 


rO  WHOM  HE  WROTE  73 

tribes  of  the  dispersion  becomes  a  difficulty,  but 
not  otherwise ;  and  seeing  that  the  language  of 
this  address  is  an  integral  part  of  the  letter,  and 
that  no  critic  has  challenged  it  as  the  addition  of 
a  later  hand,  the  address  itself  becomes  a  very 
strong  argument  for  the  early  date  of  the  letter. 

For  the  rest,  it  only  needs  to  be  remembered 
that  partly  owing  to  transplantations  after  con- 
quest, and  partly  owing  to  the  commercial 
instincts  of  the  race,  Jews  were  widely  scattered 
in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Thus  colonies  of  Jews 
were  to  be  found  in  Upper  Mesopotamia,  in 
Babylon,  in  Egypt,  in  Syria,  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
in  Rome.  The  list  of  places  given  in  Acts  ii.  9-12 
illustrates  how  far  they  had  been  dispersed  and 
from  what  distances  they  came  to  be  present  at 
the  feasts  at  Jerusalem. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  faults  which 
St.  James  censures  in  his  letter  are  many  of  them 
faults  to  which  the  Jews  as  a  race  are  specially 
liable.     These  we  shall  touch  upon  in  due  course. 


PART    II 
THE    LETTER 


CHAPTER  I 

LIFE  AS  EDUCATION 

Ch.  i.  1-5 

We  may  now  turn  to  the  description  the  writer 
gives  of  himself.  This  is  what  we  read,  "  James, 
a  servant  (Greek  :  bondservant)  of  God  and  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He  is,  in  his  own  view,  a 
bondservant.  This  is  the  word  by  which  St. 
Paul  describes  himself  when  writing  to  the 
Romans  and  to  the  Philippians ;  it  is  the  word, 
too,  which  meets  us  in  the  openings  of  the  Book 
of  Revelation  and  of  the  Epistles  of  St.  Jude  and 
of  2  Peter.  Those  who  realised  the  freedom 
which  had  come  to  them  in  Christ  were  glad  to 
describe  themselves  as  bondslaves  of  God  and  of 
Christ. 

But  it  has  been  asked.   If  the  writer  of  this   Spiritual 
Epistle  could  rejoice  in  the  title,  the  brother  of  more  than 
the  Lord,  and  could  thus,  whatever  the  signifi-  ^'"''^'p- 
cance  of  that  phrase,  claim  special  kinship  with  the 


78         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Lord  and  Master  of  the  Church,  why  is  he  con- 
tent with  describing  himself  simply  as  a  bond- 
servant ?  The  answer  Hes  in  the  extraordinary 
fraternal  enthusiasm  which  prevailed  in  the  early 
Christian  society  :  we  know  that  this  enthusiasm 
led  them  to  have  all  things  in  common  ;  personal 
ownership  was  lost  sight  of  in  the  claims  of  the 
community  (Acts  ii.  44-47).  In  the  same  way 
the  ties  of  the  flesh  were  absorbed  in  those  of 
the  brotherhood.  These  human  ties  were  not 
harshly  broken  as  they  were  under  the  hard 
legalism  of  Pharisaic  religion  (Mark  vii.  10-13)  : 
they  were  lifted  into  a  higher  plane;  they  were 
seen  to  be  tokens  and  symbols  of  more  enduring 
bonds.  In  such  times  of  spiritual  exaltation  the 
sense  of  earthly  things  grows  less.  St.  Paul  will 
no  longer  boast  of  his  tribe,  lineage  and  educa- 
tion ;  St.  James  will  not  dwell  on  the  glory  of  his 
earthly  lineage,  or  vaunt  himself  great  because  he 
is  of  kin  to  Christ  after  the  flesh.  These  things, 
sweet  and  precious  as  they  are,  have  been  lost 
in  the  joy  of  the  spiritual  relationship,  they  pale 
before  a  glor}'  which  is  eternal.  This  line  of 
thought  involves  no  mere  figure  of  speech  :  it 
was  the  dominant  line  of  thought  among  men  who 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  79 

were  spiritually  enlightened.  Knowledge  of 
Christ  in  the  spirit  was  more  than  any  knowledge 
of  Him  in  the  flesh — "Even  though  we  have 
known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet  now  we  know 
Him  so  no  more."  (2  Cor.  v.  16.)  This  was  the 
language  of  St.  Paul ;  and  it  was  the  echo  of 
Christ's  own  words.  "  The  flesh  profiteth 
nothing :  the  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto  you, 
are  spirit,  and  are  life."  (John  vi.  63.)  In- 
deed, it  was  ever  this  spiritual  aspect  of  thipgs 
which  Christ  insisted  upon.  Spiritual  affinity 
was  more  than  blood  relationship.  He  reverenced 
ties  of  blood  :  He  would  not  tolerate  the  breaking 
of  bonds  which  God's  providence  had  created. 
Men  were  bound  to  accept  and  fulfil  the  duties 
which  accompanied  domestic  and  social  relation- 
ship, but  these  ties  brought  duties  rather  than 
rights ;  they  were  precious  only  in  so  far  as  a 
divine  call  and  obligation  were  seen  in  them. 
Mere  physical  kinship,  however,  conferred  no 
spiritual  capacity :  the  divine  judgment  dealt 
only  with  a  man's  spiritual  character.  Those 
whose  lives  were  in  harmony  with  God's  thoughts 
were  more  truly  blessed  than  those  who  could 
claim  blood  relationship  with  the  Christ  of  God. 


8o         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Those  who  heard  the  word  of  God  and  kept  it 
were  more  blessed  than  His  own  mother  (Luke 
xi.  27,  28)  ;  more  truly  akin  to  Him  than  the 
members  of  his  own  family  were  those  who  did 
the   will   of  His    Father  in    heaven   (Mark    iii. 

31-35)- 

As  we  read  these  reiterated  and  emphatic 
words  of  Christ,  we  no  longer  wonder  that  the 
men  who  shared  His  spirit  never  thought  of  giving 
prominence  to  their  family  kinship  with  Him. 
To  do  the  will  of  God  :  to  exhibit  the  spirit  of 
their  Master  :  this  was  enough  :  all  else  belonged 
to  that  passing  Hfe  which  was  but  as  a  vapour  : 
the  boasts  and  glories  of  earth  faded,  the  word  of 
the  Lord  endured.  It  was  more  to  be  bond- 
^  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  than 
to  be  brother  of  the  Lord  after  the  flesh.  Union 
with  Jesus  Christ  was  not  ensured  by  blood 
relationship,  but  by  spiritual  affinity. 

The  practical  reflection  upon  all  this  is  obvious. 
The  unspiritual  mind  is  always  yearning  after 
some  link  with  the  divine,  other  than  the  link  of 
spiritual  affinity.  This  unspiritual  mind  finds  a 
place  in  all  of  us  at  times ;  and  it  is  the  fertile 
cause  of  pagan  ideas  among  so-called  Christian 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  8i 

people.  It  is,  if  we  reflect,  only  a  manifestation 
of  the  indolent  wish  to  secure  divine  help  with- 
out personal  moral  harmony  with  the  divine.  We 
know  that  God  is  great :  we  know  that  we  need 
His  aid ;  if  we  can  secure  it  without  spiritual 
conditions,  we  escape  the  yoke,  which  our  weak 
nature  needs  but  resents.  Hence,  if  we  can  get 
the  divine  power  on  our  side  without  troubling 
ourselves  about  the  state  of  our  hearts  and  the 
disposition  of  our  spirits,  we  shall  have  found  a 
way  easy  to  follow.  If  we  can  partake  of  the  gift 
of  Christ  by  an  action  or  by  a  ceremony,  it  is  far 
simpler  than  examining  our  hearts  and  testing 
our  lives.  Thus  it  happens  that  popular  religion 
is  so  largely  a  crude  paganism  disguised  under 
Christian  names  and  forms.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  the  frequent  communions  which  are  urged 
upon  people  as  duties  are  too  often  thoughtless 
communions.  If  our  hearts  are  not  one  with 
Christ,  if  we  have  no  desire  for  what  God  pro- 
mises, and  no  love  for  what  He  commands;  if 
our  spirits  are  not  set  wholly  and  completely  upon 
His  service ;  if  we  are  not  one  with  Him  and  He 
with  us,  then,  though  we  take  the  sacred  symbols 
of  His  love,  we  have  no  real  communion  with 

F 


82  WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Him.  In  these  hasty  and  busy  days,  when 
thought  is  increasingly  difficult,  and  leisure  for 
meditation  and  prayer  is  hard  to  command,  it  is 
more  imperative  than  ever  that  all  faithful  spiritual 
teachers  should  remind  their  people  of  the  mockery 
of  religious  forms  without  spiritual  participation. 
We  have  need  to  go  back  to  the  sober  directions 
of  St.  Paul.  "  Let  a  man  examine  himself,  and  so 
let  him  eat  of  that  bread  and  drink  of  that  cup." 
We  have  need  to  recall  the  grave  and  Apostolic 
wisdom  of  our  forefathers,  who  fenced  the  Holy 
Table  against  superstitious  and  shallow  wor- 
shippers. "  Ye  that  do  truly  and  earnestly 
repent,  and  are  in  love  and  charity  with  your 
neighbours,  and  intend  to  lead  a  new  life — draw 
near." 

But  from  this  deeper  and  more  spiritual  aspect 
of  fellowship  with  Christ,  crude  and  needless 
notions  of  some  material  and  inevitable  blessing 
turn  our  thoughts.  The  spiritual  conditions  of 
God's  blessing  are  forgotten.  Yet  these  spiritual 
conditions  are  indispensable.  Repentance  is  the 
realisation  of  how  far  our  hearts  have  been  alien- 
ated ;  taith  is  the  swinging  of  the  heart  back  into 
harmony  of   aim  and   purpose  with    God ;    com- 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  83 

munion  needs  the  sharing  of  the  spirit  of  Christ ; 
and  it  is  the  Apostle's  word  that — "  If  any  man 
have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His." 

Do  not  these  thoughts  suggest  to  us  how  shallow 
our  religion  has  often  been  ?  Do  we  not  realise 
that  our  whole  idea  of  what  the  Christian  faith 
means  needs  to  be  revolutionised,  if  we  are  to 
share  in  the  spirit  of  those  men  who,  beyond  all 
other  privilege  and  title,  delighted  to  describe 
themselves  as  the  bondservants  of  God  and  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


Count  it  all  joy,  my  brethren,  when  ye  fall  into  manifold 
temptations. — Ch.  i.  2. 

Thus  abruptly  does  St.  James  plunge  into  the  Joy  in  trial, 
heart  of  a  difficult  matter.  The  question  how  to 
meet  trial  has  long  exercised  men :  St.  James 
answers  it  almost  before  he  asks  it.  He  has  no 
doubt  as  to  the  temper  in  which  it  should  be  met. 
According  to  him,  joy  is  the  fitting  frame  for  us 
when  we  encounter  vicissitudes,  pain  or  sorrow. 

We  notice  that  St.  James  does  not  shirk  the 
problem  of  trial.  He  is  no  shallow  optimist,  who 
ignores   painful   facts.      He   boldly   admits   that 


84         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

manifold  temptations  are  to  be  expected  in  life. 
The  word  he  uses  shows  how  widely  his  eye 
has  ranged  over  the  field  of  human  existence. 
He  speaks  of  life  as  full  of  many  and  varying 
"temptations" — a  word  which  means  more  than 
merely  afflictions  and  more  than  mere  temptations 
to  do  wrong :  in  it  he  includes  everything  in  life 
which  befalling  us  demands  the  bracing  up  of  our 
moral  energy  to  endure  or  to  resist.  The  word 
"  to  tempt "  has  come  to  mean  to  endeavour  to 
mislead  a  person  and  so  to  encompass  his  fall :  it 
is  generally  now  employed  in  an  evil  sense ;  but 
the  word  which  St.  James  uses,  and  which  it  is 
difficult  to  translate  by  any  other  word  than 
temptation,  primarily  only  means  to  make  trial 
of,  to  search  into ;  it  is  nearer  in  thought  to  the 
word  "attempt,"  which  leaves  the  issue  of  the 
effect  uncertain.  Man  is  to  be  regarded  first  as 
.  untried  ;  the  diverse  temptations  are  the  environ- 
i,ng  trials  which  come  to  put  him  to  the  proof. 
As  there  are  evil  men  in  the  world,  so  there  are 
temptations  which  are  designed  to  bring  about  a 
man's  fall :  evil  natures  seek  to  lead  men  into 
evil :  such  are  tempters  in  a  bad  sense.  But  the 
incidents  and  accidents,  as  we  call  them,  of  life 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  85 

are  not  arranged  with  any  such  evil  intention ; 
they  are  rather  such  things  as  are  common  to 
man,  and  they  are  but  experiences  which  test  man's 
moral  quality.  t-,, 

As  waves  and  storms  serve  to  test  the  sea-  Like  joy 

in  adven- 

going  qualities  of  a  ship,  as  rain  and  flood  test  ^^'^^' 
the  stability  of  a  house  (Matt,  vii.),  as  the  perils 
and  stratagems  of  war  test  the  soldier,  so  these 
temptations  of  life  put  men  to  the  proof.  We 
may  succumb  to  them  ;  tested  we  may  be  tempted  ; 
the  ship  may  founder ;  the  house  may  fall ;  the 
soldier  may  flee,  but  there  is  no  sinister  purpose 
in  storm,  or  flood,  or  battle ;  there  is  value  in  all ; 
they  work  experience  ;  they  test,  and  testing  they 
set  a  stamp  of  approval  upon  all  that  endures  ; 
by  revealing  unsuspected  weakness,  they  point 
out  the  way  of  improvement  to  him  who  fails. 

We  begin  now  to  catch  the  writer's  sturdy 
philosophy  of  life  as  we  reflect  upon  his  words. 
"  Count  it  all  joy."  That  is  just  what  we  do  not 
think  of  doing.  It  is  natural  and  easy  to  dwell 
upon  the  pain,  the  worry,  the  inconvenience,  the 
irritation  of  the  many  trials  of  life.  They  are 
not  fixed  and  constant ;  we  cannot  prepare  our- 
selves against  them  as  men  who  know  that  they 


86         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

can  only  be  assailed  from  one  quarter ;  they  come 
from  all  sides ;  they  spring  up  in  unexpected 
places  and  in  unforeseen  ways.  Thus,  repeatedly 
assailed,  it  is  no  wonder  that  men  should  be  in 
heaviness,  or  "  put  to  grief  in  manifold  tempta- 
tions"  (i  Pet.  i.  6).  It  is,  as  I  have  said,  easy  to 
dwell  upon  the  variety,  and  fatiguing  incessancy 
of  life's  troubles.  Men  have  spent  their  eloquence 
in  describing  them.  '*  Man  is  born  to  trouble  as 
the  sparks  fly  upward."  Sorrow,  predestined 
sorrow,  waits  him  at  every  turn. 

Before  the  beginning  of  years, 
There  came  to  the  making  of  man 

Life  with  a  gift  of  tears, 
Time  with  a  glass  that  ran. 

Like  Hamlet,  every  one  has  felt  at  times  "the 
slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous  fortune."  So 
clear  and  widespread  is  the  fact,  and  so  easy  is  it 
to  enlarge  upon  the  fact  that  we  weary  of  the 
commonplace  reiteration  of  complaints.  But  here 
we  reflect  that  it  is  cowardly  to  spend  time  in 
lamenting  the  inevitable.  Wisdom  bids  us  ask 
how  should  the  ills  of  life  be  met  ?  What  spirit 
is  most  consonant  with  manhood,  when  confronted 
with  acknowledged  and  inevitable  ills  ? 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  87 

It  is  in  its  answer  to  this  question  that  Chris-  ■'^^JJj[^^''*" 
tianity  rises  so  high.  Stoicism  could  counsel 
a  proud  equanimity,  and  at  times  achieved  a  sort 
of  noble  disdain.  Buddhism  sought  to  get  rid  of 
the  cause  of  suffering  by  stifling  some  of  the  best 
emotions  of  the  human  heart.  Both  sought  to 
reach  an  unruffled  calm,  bred  of  an  indifference, 
which  was  either  pride  or  lack  of  feeling.  Chris- 
tianity meets  the  problem  by  calling  forth  a 
triumphant  spirit,  based  on  invincible  confidence. 
No  faith  struck  with  so  firm  a  hand  the  note  of 
joy  in  the  midst  of  trouble.  "  We  glory  in  tribu- 
lation," said  St.  Paul  (Rom.  v.  3).  Count  it  all 
joy  when  ye  fall  into  manifold  temptations,  writes 
St.  James.  Do  not  both  disciples  lead  our 
thoughts  back  to  their  Master  ?  Christ  had  never 
concealed  from  His  disciples  the  truth  that 
tribulation  awaited  them.  "In  the  world  ye 
have  tribulation  ; "  but  He  gave  them  the  right 
to  confidence.  The  world,  which  teemed  with 
tribulation,  was  a  world  despoiled  of  all  power  to 
harm.  It  was  a  vanquished  world.  "  Ye  have 
tribulation ;  but  be  of  good  cheer ;  I  have  over- 
come the  world."     (John  xvi.  33.) 

What  we  ought  to  realise  here  is  the  funda- 


«8         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

mental  view  of  life  which  these  disciples  of  Christ 
took.  They  were  living  in  a  world  which  did  not 
belong  to  the  powers  of  evil ;  whatever  strength 
evil  had  was  a  broken  strength ;  the  force  of 
evil,  however  great  in  appearance,  was  inherently 
weak. 

Evil  in  its  nature  was  decay 
And  in  a  moment  can  wholly  pass  away. 

Believing  this,  St.  James  could  say,  "  Count  it 
all  joy."  He  employs  the  part  of  the  verb,  which 
implies  that  we  are  to  keep  on  continually 
reckoning,  as  faith  can  reckon,  that  there  is  in 
trial  an  inherent  reason  for  joy ;  tribulation  is 
fraught  with  possibilities  which  make  for  keener 
joy.  Note,  he  does  not  say  that  trial  is  in  itself 
joy ;  he  does  not  deny  that  trial  is  troublesome, 
but  he  says  that  we  may  and  ought  to  reckon  it 
as  bringing  reasons  and  opportunities  of  gladness. 
There  is  labour,  fatigue,  and  not  unfrequently 
pain,  in  sustained  effort,  in  the  strained  muscle 
and  in  the  labouring  breath,  but  there  is  also  a 
joy  in  contending,  a  thrill  of  gladness  which 
springs  from  even  enforced  exertion.  Realise 
the  moral  victory  and  the  spiritual  strength  which 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  89 

may  come  to  one  who,  conquering  circumstances, 
gains  mastery  over  self,  and  we  shall  see  the 
reasons  for  joy  which  accompany  the  presence  of 
manifold  temptations.  Realise,  further,  the  love 
which  the  servant  of  Christ  bears  to  his  Master, 
and  we  shall  know  the  secret  joy  which  is  theirs, 
to  whom  it  is  given  "  not  only  to  believe  on  Him, 
but  also  to  suffer  in  His  behalf"  (Phil.  i.  29). 


Knowing  that  the   trial  (or  proof)  of  your  faith  worketh 
patience. — Ch.  i.  3. 

The  way  in  which  St.  James  takes  certain  things  Reasons  for 

joy  in  trial. 

for  granted  is  significant.  Wliat  another  might 
labour  to  prove,  he  assumes  to  be  admitted.  In 
this  verse,  he  takes  for  granted  that  "  faith  "  is  the 
fundamental  condition  of  the  religious  conscious- 
ness. This  fact  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  states  with  a  clear  emphasis.  "  It  is 
the  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  proving  of 
things  not  seen."  It  is  the  necessary  condition 
of  soul  which  arises  in  every  man  who  has  formed 
any  genuine  conception  of  God.  "  He  thatcometh 
to  God  must  believe  that  He  is,  and  that  He  is  a  re- 
warder  of  them  that  seek  after  Him."    (Heb.  xi.  6.) 


90         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

■  ^  What  therefore  is  put  to  proof  by  trial  is  just  the 
condition  of  the  soul  in  its  relation  to  God.  If  a 
man's  confidence  in  higher  principles  gives  way  at 
the  onset  of  evil,  or  in  the  presence  of  trouble,  he 
can  have  but  little  faith  in  his  principles.  If  we 
surrender  our  trust  in  the  God  of  Right  and 
Truth,  because  afflictions  befall  us,  our  trust 
must  have  been  poorly  rooted.  "  If  thou  faint 
in  the  day  of  affliction,  thy  strength  is  small." 
Tests  a  In  the  view,  then,  of  St.  James,  trial  was  a  test 


man  s 


moral  of  uiau's  Hioral  quality ;  the  various  temptations 

which  beset  men  put  to  proof  their  faith  in  the 
Eternal  Goodness,  i.e.,  in  God.  It  is  not  in  the 
first  instance,  in  his  view,  our  courage,  our  energy, 
our  endurance  which  is  tested  by  trial,  but  our  faith. 
To  him,  confidence  in  God,  in  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth,  who  would  do  right,  is  the  basis  of  the 
religious  character.  This  is  quite  as  we  should 
expect.  St.  James  was  a  Jew,  and  to  all  devout 
Jews,  i.e.,  to  all  those  Jews  who  had  learned  the 
lesson,  taught  by  history,  and  enforced  by  Pro- 
^  phets,  laith  in  God  was  the  first  element  of 
religion.  The  Pharisee  and  the  ceremonialist 
had  obscured  this,  and  had  weakened  the  ethical 
force  of  religion  in  consequence  :  but  those  who 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  91 

waited  for  redemption  in  Israel  had  reached  the 
ethical  platform  to  which  prophets  like  Amos  and 
Habakkuk  had  led  the  people. 

Faith    was    to    such    no  mere    reliance   on    a  Faith  is 

faitli  in 

powerful  deity  who  had  taken  Israel  under  his  •''s:i»t. 
patronage.  Faith  was  the  conviction  of  the 
triumph  of  righteousness,  because  it  was  the  con- 
viction of  the  unswerving  righteousness  of  God. 
Faith,  therefore,  was  no  feeble  expectation  of 
help ;  it  was  the  giving  out  of  a  moral  sympathy 
towards  the  Being  who  was  essentially  righteous 
and  towards  the  order  of  that  kingdom  which  He 
ruled  in  righteousness.  There  was  thus  a  strong- 
moral  element  in  faith.  Faith  had  ceased  in  such 
minds  to  be  the  foolish  confidence  that  God 
would  at  all  costs  and  without  conditions  save 
Israel ;  there  were  conditions  of  righteousness 
which  were  inspired  by  the  most  rudimentary 
conception  of  righteousness.  This  being  so, 
favouritism  was  impossible ;  this  being  so,  great 
privileges  meant  great  responsibilities.  "  You 
only  have  I  known  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  " 
was  the  prophetic  statement  of  Israel's  privileges  ; 
"  therefore  I  will  punish  you  for  your  iniquities  " 
was  the  natural  sequence  in  the  prophet's  mind. 


92          WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Now  wherever  this  primary  conception  of  the 
righteous  God  and  the  righteous  order  exists, 
trial  and  temptation  are  not  treated  as  though 
the  righteous  order  had  failed  :  they  are  recog- 
nised as  tests  or  proofs  of  our  confidence  in  the 
impregnability  of  the  righteousness  of  the  divine 
will.  They  put  us  to  the  proof,  whether  we  can 
maintain  unshaken  our  confidence  in  the  eternal 
victory  of  right  in  the  midst  of  trial.  Those  who 
know  what  it  is  to  fall  into  manifold  temptations 
can  best  appreciate  the  magnificence  of  Job's 
victorious  cry  :  "  Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I 
trust  in  Him,"  or  (R.V.)wait  for  Him  (Job  xiii.  15). 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  only  those  who 
possess  a  very  deep  love  of  righteousness  can 
reach  the  high  confidence  of  such  a  faith.  Is  it 
not  true  that  only  the  soul  which  lives  much  wUh 
God — walks  with  Him  as  the  sacred  writer  ex- 
presses it — can  gather  that  inward  moral  strength 
which  enables  it  to  move  triumphantly  through 
the  snare-strewn  field  of  temptation  ?  Is  it  not 
true  that  to  him  to  whom  righteousness  is  a 
supreme  reality,  doubt  of  its  ultimate  victory 
appears  like  sin ;  and  every  failure  of  confidence 
in   the  eternal  strength  of  right  is  deplored  as 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  93 

weakness  ?  We  find  this  expressed  by  Tennyson 
{Doubt  and  Prayer)  : 

Tho'  Sin  too  oft,  when  smitten  by  Thy  rod, 
Rail  at  "BUnd  Fate  "  with  many  a  vain  "  alas  !  " 
From  sin  thro'  sorrow  into  Thee  we  pass 
By  that  same  path  our  true  forefathers  trod  ! 
And  let  not  Reason  fail  me,  nor  the  sod 
Draw  from  my  death  Thy  living  flower  and  grass, 
Before  I  learn  that  Love,  which  is,  and  was, 
My  Father,  and  my  Brother,  and  my  God  ! 

Thus  the  initial  force  of  the  rehgious  character 
is  faith,  and  it  is  this  faith  which  is  put  to  the  test 
by  trial. 

As  we  continue  our  study,  we  shall  see  the  Character 

a  product. 

importance  of  realising  the  moral  quality  of  this 
elementary  faith.  Character  is  a  moral  product, 
and  character  can  only  be  built  up  out  of  moral 
materials.  It  is  a  fitly  proportioned  assemblage 
of  moral  qualities.  In  its  earliest  stage  it  must 
possess  some  moral  quality  out  of  which  it  can 
grow  into  higher  conditions.  The  elementary 
moral  quality  will  call  to  itself,  as  it  were,  some 
other  moral  quality  to  help  its  growth.  This  is 
what  St.  James  expects.  The  reason  why  the 
religious  man  can  reckon  it  joy  when  he  falls  into 
manifold  temptations,  is  that  he  knows  something 


94         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

'^  of  the  law  of  character  growth,  or  moral  evolu- 

tion. Count  it  all  joy,  he  says,  knowing,  or 
recognising  the  simple  law,  that  the  proof  of  your 
faith  worketh  patience.  Patience  is  the  outcome 
of  genuine  faith  when  it  is  put  to  proof.  Trial  is 
never  barren,  save  in  barren  souls.  Where  a 
true  and  living  faith  exists,  fruit  will  spring  forth 
after  trial. 
Patience  The  moral  quality  which  St.  James  selects  as 

builds  ^  J  J 

character.  ^|^g  f^j-g^  pi'oduct  of  trial  or  tested  faith  is  patience. 
Patience  is  the  indispensable  quality  for  all 
success.  Hence  we  are  told  that  genius  is 
patience.  Patience  is  not,  however,  to  be  under- 
stood as  a  kind  of  passive  endurance ;  there  is  an 
active  element  in  patience,  a  quality  which  lays 
hold  upon  the  opportunities  which  trials  bring. 
There  is,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  an  inventive 
power  in  it ;  for  it,  like  necessity,  is  a  productive 
power.  Philo  called  it  the  queen  of  virtues.  It 
holds  a  place  among  the  moral  qualities  of  the 
soul,  enumerated  by  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter. 
St.  Paul  places  it  between  tribulation  and  experi- 
ence, or  probation  as  the  Revised  Version  ex- 
presses it  (Rom.  v.  3,  4).  In  the  list  given  in 
2   Peter  i.    5-7,    patience  holds  the   fifth  place : 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  95 

faith,  virtue,  knowledge,  temperance  preceding  it, 
and  godliness,  brotherly  love,  and  love  following 
it.  It  is  indispensable  in  the  architecture  of 
character.  If  we  were  to  give  it  a  place  in  the 
work  of  character-building,  we  might  call  it  the 
clerk  of  the  works;  but  speaking  of  the  ladder  of 
Christian  virtues  which  rises  from  earth  to 
heaven,  we  call  patience  the  stage  or  platform 
whence  we  may  ascend  towards  higher  things. 
Without  patience  no  achievement  is  possible ; 
with  it,  none  need  be  despaired  of.  Can  one  say 
less  who  remembers  our  Master's  words:  "In 
your  patience,  ye  shall  win  your  souls"  ?  (Luke  xxi. 
19.) 

And  let  patience  have  its  perfect  work. — Ch.  i.  4. 

The  little  word  "  its  "  is  in  italics,  and  has  no  Power  of 
corresponding  word  in  the  original.  There  is  no 
article  or  pronoun.  We  might  translate  the 
passage  thus :  "  And  let  patience  have  a  perfect 
work."  But  whichever  way  we  take  the  words, 
they  tell  us  that  we  must  treat  patience  as  though 
it  possessed  an  active  ^nergy,  and  we  must  allow 
it  a  free  hand,  as  we  say.     There  is  much  special 


96         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

wisdom  in  this  precept.  In  the  life  of  the  soul 
we  often  injure  ourselves  by  a  spirit  of  restless 
interference  with  what  I  may  call  natural  pro- 
cesses. I  have  heard  a  prayer,  sometimes  prayed, 
which  seems  to  me  a  mistaken  one ;  the  prayer 
is  that  we  may  perceive  in  ourselves  the  fruits  of 
Christ's  redemption.  I  am  not  very  sure  that  I 
understand  what  it  means,  but  the  last  thing  that 
single-minded  souls  perceive  is  the  progress  of 
those  inner  changes  which  are  making  up  the 
character.  All  wholesome  growth  is  unconscious. 
The  attention  of  the  boy  is  upon  outward  things, 
upon  his  cricket  or  football ;  the  development  of 
his  frame  in  vigour  and  strength  takes  place 
without  any  personal  consciousness.  It  is  with 
growth  as  it  is  with  time.  We  only  take  note  of 
it  by  something  which  tells  us  of  its  advance. 
We  know  time  only  by  its  flight.  We  know 
growth  only  by  some  external  fact  which  reveals 
to  us  what  changes  have,  all  unmarked  by  us, 
been  going  on.  This  is  the  healthy  condition  of 
things.  Self-consciousness  is  the  parent  of  many 
weaknesses ;  spiritual  self-consciousness  pro- 
motes a  morbid  religionism.  Let  us  leave  the 
processes  of  spiritual  growth  alone.     Let  us  give 


LIFE  AS   EDUCATION  97 

a  free  hand  to  the  agents  and  instruments  which 
are  at  work.  God-consciousness,  not  self-con- 
sciousness, is  the  mainstay  of  healthy  souls. 
God-consciousness  keeps  us  from  timid  and  im- 
patient self-interference.  So  St,  Peter  counselled 
( I  Pet.  ii.  1 9).  "  This  is  acceptable  if  for  conscience 
of  (so  it  is  in  the  margin  of  the  Revised  Version) 
God  a  man  endureth  griefs,  suffering  wrongfully." 
Here  is  patience  being  allowed  a  perfect  work ; 
here  is  patience  being  given  its  freedom  of  action, 
because  the  gaze  of  the  soul  is  upon  God.  It  is 
in  the  moral  recognition  of  God  that  the  spirit  of 
the  suffering  man  is  sustained. 

If  we  give  patience  this  free  hand,  patience  will 
do  the  needed  work  without  our  help.  Patience 
is  an  expert  builder  of  character;  but  the  restless 
spirit  spoils  her  work.  Patience  only  asks  the 
right  and  freedom  of  going  on.  Patience  is  thus 
an  expert  agent  in  the  soul,  bringing  an  inner 
strength,  leaving  grief  free  to  work  that  softening 
result,  which  can  only  come  when  sorrow  and 
patience  co-operate  in  an  experience.  Here  is 
the  paradox.  If  thy  soul  be  strengthened  with 
patience,  sorrow  shall  soften  thy  heart.  If  ihy 
soul  be  weak  and  irritable,  sorrow  will  harden 

G 


98         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

thee.  Be  firm  towards  thyself  in  sorrow,  so  will 
thy  heart  grow  tender  to  those  who  suffer.  Be 
tender  towards  thyself,  and  thou  wilt  grow  in- 
different to  the  sorrows  of  others.  If  this  paradox 
be  true — and  who  does  not  know  that  it  is  ? — 
then  there  is  indeed  reason  for  leaving  patience 
free  to  do  her  work  ?  This  principle  underlies 
Tennyson's  words — 

Steel  me  with  patience  !  soften  me  with  grief ! 
It  is  the  man  whose  soul  is  armed  with  patience 
who  will  win  the  softening  influence  of  grief. 
Tears,  like  gentle  rain,  will  make  ready  the  soil 
of  the  heart.  Patience  works  slowly,  and  loves 
best  to  work  unnoticed,  but  her  work  is  a  sort  of 
magic,  for  she  puts  in  man's  hands  a  power  of 
self-emancipation.  Thus  writes  Milton,  in  "  Sam- 
son Agonistes  " — 

Patience  is  more  oft  the  exercise 
Of  saints,  the  trial  of  their  fortitude  ; 
Making  them  each  his  own  deliverer, 
And  victor  over  all 
That  tyranny  or  fortune  can  inflict. 

That  ye  may  be  perfect  and  entire,  lacking  in  nothing. — 
Ch.  i.  4. 

The  final  The  ambition  of  moral  completeness  is  common 

purpose  0     j^j^^^jjg  ^^^  Testament  writers.    It  is  the  outcome 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  99 

of  their  belief  that  there  is  aii  ideal  pattern  to 
which  man  must  ultimately  grow.  Just  as  Moses 
was  shown  in  the  Mount  the  pattern  according  to 
which  he  was  to  make  all  things,  so  is  there  a 
divine  image  to  which  man  is  to  grow,  and  in 
growing  to  which  he  fulfils  his  true  destiny.  But 
the  attainment  of  this  destiny  may  be  thought  of 
in  two  ways — the  attainment  of  maturity  and  the 
attainment  of  completion.  Thus  man  reaches 
maturity  when  he  attains  his  full  age  ;  he  reaches 
completeness  when  he  attains  his  true  and  natural 
growth.  St.  James  uses  two  words  to  express 
his  thought.  Perfect,  and  entire.  The  first  of 
these  refers  to  ripe  or  full  growth  or  maturity  ;  in 
the  natural  world — sheep,  for  instance,  are  de- 
cribed  as  "  perfect  "  in  contrast  to  those  young 
and  dependent  upon  their  mothers ;  they  are 
those  who  can,  as  we  say,  fend  for  themselves. 
We  may  recall  the  reproach  in  Heb.  v.  12-14, 
uttered  against  those  Christians  who  remained  in 
a  state  of  childish  backwardness  :  the  writer  tells 
them  that  they  are  like  babes  who  still  need  to  be 
fed  with  milk.  Having  uttered  this  reproach,  he 
gives  the  exhortation  (Heb.  vi.  i) — "  Let  us  press 
on   unto   perfection " — where    the    perfection   is 


100       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

clearly  that  perfection  of  growth  which  is  equiva- 
lent to  the  mature  capacity  of  using  their  own 
powers.  The  second  word  **  entire  "  is  a  word 
used  to  express  the  absence  of  any  flaw  or 
blemish  ;  for  instance,  the  sacrificial  lamb  was  to 
be  a  lamb  without  blemish  ;  it  was  to  be  complete 
in  all  its  parts  and  members  ;  it  was  to  be  neither 
deformed  nor  defective.  Thus  the  two  words 
express  completeness  of  capacity  as  well  as 
freedom  from  deformity  or  defect.  The  ideal  set 
before  us  is  of  one  who  is  sound  in  frame  and 
complete  in  limbs  and  members  ;  and  as  if  to 
emphasise,  even  more  exactly  the  perfection  of 
the  ideal,  St.  James  adds,  "  lacking  in  nothing." 
We  realise  that  the  standard  set  before  his 
readers  by  St.  James  is  nothing  short  of  the  true 
divine  ideal ;  his  words  are  only  an  elaboration 
of  the  words  of  his  Master  :  "  Ye  therefore  shall 
be  perfect,  as  your  Heavenly  Father  is  perfect." 
(Matt.  v.  48.)  To  attain  to  this  became  the 
Christian  ambition.  The  ambition  for  possessions 
was  changed  into  the  ambition  of  becoming  better. 
To  be  was  more  important  than  to  have.  Wealth 
was  no  longer  the  measure  of  worth ;  it  was 
character.     And  character  was  no  longer  a  vague 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  loi 

ideal;  it  was  character,  mature,  vigorous,  com- 
plete, an  all-round  character,  which  was  desired. 
It  was  character  whose  growth  was  contributed 
to  by  the  careful  development  and  government  of 
all  parts  of  man's  nature.  The  body  in  subjec- 
tion, as  St.  Paul  said  (r  Cor.  ix.  23-27);  the 
mind  filled  with  noble  thoughts;  the  affections 
set  upon  things  above ;  so  that  the  Apostolic 
prayer  might  be  fulfilled.  "  And  may  your  spirit, 
soul  and  body  be  preserved  entire,  without  blame 
at  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  (i  Th. 
V.  23.) 

We  may  question,  as  earnest  people  have  at  all 
times  questioned,  whether  this  maturity  and  com- 
pleteness is  expected  of  Christian  people  here  and 
now,  or  whether  it  is  an  ideal,  which  they  can 
only  hope  to  attain  when  they  are  delivered  from 
the  bondage  of  the  flesh.  Such  questionings, 
however  natural,  are,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  not 
very  wholesome.  To  answer  them  either  way  is 
to  court  misapprehension,  and  to  invite  tempta- 
tion. If  we  say,  Not  here  or  now  can  we  attain 
this  maturity,  then  on  such  a  reply  our  indolence 
relies,  and  finds  in  it  an  excuse  for  relaxing  dili- 
gence.    If  we    say,    Yes !  here    and    now,    then 


I02        WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

pride  and  self-deception  dispose  us  to  lower  the 
standard  of  the  ideal,  and  claim  to  have  achieved 
more  than  has  been  really  won.  Does  not  the 
true  answer  run  on  this  wise  ?  Rest  assured  that 
those  who  have  reached  the  highest  measure  of 
Christian  maturity  are  just  those  who  will  most 
keenly  realise  how  far  they  fall  short  of  the  ideal  1 
Was  it  not  the  great  and  unfalteringly  earnest 
Apostle  who  wrote — "  Not  that  I  have  already 
obtained,  or  am  already  made  perfect :  but  I  press 
on,  if  so  be  that  I  may  apprehend  that  for  which 
also  I  was  apprehended  by  Christ  Jesus. 
Brethren,  I  count  not  myself  yet  to  have  appre- 
hended." (Phil.  iii.  12,  13.)  In  proportion  as  we 
are  self-satisfied  we  are  failures.  This  is  for 
human  beings  a  safe  rule.  The  sculptor  was 
saddest  at  heart  when  he  saw  no  fault  in  his 
work.  He  took  his  satisfaction  as  a  sign  that  his 
ideal,  and  so  his  self-criticising  power,  was  desert- 
ing him.  The  old  Puritan  Lightfoot  wrote  wisely 
— "  They  least  have  the  spirit  who  boast  of  the 
spirit." 

There  is  then  a  very  simple  lesson  left  to  us. 
Keep  the  highest  ideal  before  you  :  it  will  raise 
you,  and   it  will  humble  you.     Is  not  this  what 


LIFE  AS  EDUCATION  103 

Jesus  Christ  is  constantly  doing  to  the  world  ? 
What  noble  ranges  of  character  and  conduct  has 
He  not  set  before  us  ?  What  splendid  possibilities 
has  He  not  opened  to  the  weakest  people  and  the 
most  obscure  lives  ?  And  yet,  how  truly  His 
character  rebukes  those  who  bear  His  name  from 
age  to  age.  Christian  society  to-day,  as  it 
realises  how  little  the  spirit  of  Christ  really 
inspires  human  life,  must  acknowledge  with  St. 
Paul — "  We  count  not  ourselves  to  have  appre- 
hended." Happy  will  it  be,  if  it  can  enter  into 
the  Apostle's  resolve.  "  One  thing  I  do,  for- 
getting the  things  which  are  behind,  and  stretch- 
ing forward  to  the  things  which  are  before,  I 
press  on  toward  the  goal  unto  the  prize  of  the 
high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  (Phil.  iii. 
13.) 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CO-OPERATION  OF  INWARD  AND  OUTWARD 
FORCES  IN  SPIRITUAL  DEVELOPMENT 

(Ch.  i.  5-12.) 

Ch.  i.  5-8.  But  if  any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom,  let  him  ask 
of  God,  who  giveth  to  all  liberally  and  upbraideth  not  ;  and 
it  shall  be  given  him.  But  let  him  ask  in  faith,  nothing 
doubting  :  for  he  that  doubteth  is  like  the  surge  of  the  sea 
driven  by  the  wind  and  tossed.  For  let  not  that  man  think 
that  he  shall  receive  anything  of  the  Lord  ;  a  double-minded 
man,  unstable  in  all  his  ways. 

9-12.  But  let  the  brother  of  low  degree  glory  in  his  high 
estate  ;  and  the  rich,  in  that  he  is  made  low  :  because  as  the 
flower  of  the  grass  he  shall  pass  away.  For  the  sun  ariseth 
with  the  scorching  wind,  and  withereth  the  grass ;  and  the 
flower  thereof  falleth,  and  the  grace  of  the  fashion  of  it 
perisheth  :  so  also  shall  the  rich  man  fade  away  in  his  goings. 

It  is  not  well  to  read  any  book  of  the  Bible  as 
though  it  were  a  series  of  texts.  There  is  a  thread 
of  connection  which  we  ought  to  look  for  if  we 
are  to  grasp  the  writer's  meaning.  Some  of  those 
who  have  commented,  and  commented  well,  upon 
this  letter  of  St.  James,  have,  I  think,  mi.ssed  this 


INWARD  AND  OUT\VARD  FORCES    105 

thread  of  connection  ;  and  have  in  consequence 
described  the  letter  as  a  series  of  disjointed  pre- 
cepts. It  is  true  that  at  the  end  of  the  letter  we 
meet  with  a  number  of  instructions  more  or  less 
isolated.  But  in  the  early  part  of  the  letter  a 
definite  purpose  animates  St.  James.  When  we 
realise  this  purpose,  the  Unks  which  connect  one 
part  with  another  become  clear.  The  principle  of 
connection  is  more  psychological  and  experimen- 
tal than  logical  and  argumentative.  We  shall  see 
this  if,  before  considering  the  passage  (i.  S~^^) 
in  detail,  we  seek  the  undercurrent  of  thought. 

First,  then,  St.  James  has  expressed  (i.   2-5)   Retrospect 

of  the 

his  belief  that  life  is  education ;  he  has  also  argument, 
affirmed  that  patience  is  needful  if  the  full  value 
of  this  education  is  to  be  won.  The  end  of 
human  discipline  is  likeness  to  God  (i.  4).  So 
our  Lord  taught.  If  we  read  the  closing  verses 
of  the  fifth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  we  shall  see 
how  fully  this  thought  filled  Christ's  mind.  He 
says,  "  Exercise  love,  that  ye  may  be  sons 
of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven ; "  for  indeed 
this  is  your  destiny,  the  very  end  for  which  you 
were  created  and  to  which  you  are  called.  "Ye 
therefore    shall    be    perfect,    as    your    heavenly 


io6       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Father  is  perfect."  (St.  Matt.  v.  43-48.)  Like- 
ness to  God  is  the  goal  to  which  Christ  points  ; 
and  His  disciples  teach  the  same.  Thus  St.  Paul 
urges  his  hearers  to  "  put  on  the  new  man,  which 
after  God  hath  been  created  in  righteousness  and 
holiness  of  truth."  (Eph.  iv.  24.)  Similarly  St. 
James  teaches.  The  end  of  trial  is  "  that  ye  may 
be  perfect "  (i.  4).  It  is  ever  that  pattern  of 
character  which  resembles  God  which  is  the 
ambition  of  Christian  souls. 

To  attain  to  any  perfection  or  maturity,  patience 
is  needed.  For  instance,  when  a  great  purpose 
is  achieved  by  effort,  patience  is  one  of  the  quali- 
ties which  ensures  success ;  or,  again,  when  that 
ripeness  which  is  the  perfection  of  growth  is 
looked  for,  patience  is  needed,  even  as  the  hus- 
bandman waiting  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the 
earth  is  patient  over  it  (v.  7).  When  man  works 
towards  an  ideal,  he  needs  patience  ;  when  he 
waits  for  the  operation  of  nature's  laws,  he  needs 
patience  ;  and  when  the  soul  of  man  would  reach 
to  likeness  to  God,  it  must  take  the  way  of 
patience  also.  Compare  2  Peter  i.  6,  where 
patience  immediately  precedes  "  godliness  "  in  the 
evolution  of  the  qualities  of  the  soul. 


INWARD  AND  OUTWARD  FORCES    107 

Now  for  all  true  growth  two  co-operating 
forces  are  required.  For  the  growth  of  the  plant 
we  need  the  seed  and  also  its  environment  of  soil, 
sun,  and  shower.  For  the  growth  of  character  we 
need  the  disposition  of  the  soul  and  the  provi- 
dences of  life.  In  the  opening  paragraph  St. 
James  declares  that  there  is  an  ideal  or  perfect- 
ness  towards  which  human  character  should  grow. 
In  the  next  paragraph  (i.  5-8)  he  describes  the 
inward  disposition  which  is  a  pre-requisite  of  such 
a  growth.  In  the  third  paragraph  (i.  9-12)  he 
touches  on  the  environing  circumstances,  the  pro- 
vidential vicissitudes  of  life.  Thus  in  verses  5-8 
he  may  be  said  to  describe  the  condition  of  the 
seed  :  in  verses  9-12  he  describes  the  influence  of 
circumstances,  the  powers  which  in  life  play  the 
same  part  as  shower  and  sun  play  in  the  world  of 
natural  growth.  If  we  keep  the  idea  of  soul- 
growth  before  us,  we  shall  understand  the  con- 
nection of  the  two  paragraphs.  We  seem  to  hear 
St.  James  saying — character,  lofty  character,  even 
likeness  to  God,  is  the  true  end  of  existence.  All 
the  circumstances  of  life,  if  rightly  understood, 
are  designed  to  help  forward  that  end,  just  as 
rain,  storm,  and  sunshine  make  for  the  ripening 


io8       WISDOM  OF  JAINIES  THE  JUST 

of  the  harvest.  But  the  sun  and  rain  ripen  aUke 
the  tares  and  the  wheat.  Therefore  it  is  needful 
that  the  soul  should  possess  that  disposition 
which  will  be  sure  to  ripen  into  godlike  character. 
In  verses  5-8  he  gives  his  view  of  what  the  dis- 
position of  the  soul  ought  to  be  in  order  that  it 
may  ripen  aright.  In  verses  9-12  he  gives  a 
picture  of  the  influences  under  which  ripening 
takes  place.  In  other  words,  these  two  para- 
graphs stand  related  to  one  another  as  the  inward 
and  outward  forces  which  are  concerned  in 
spiritual  development. 

We  shall   take  these  two  paragraphs  succes- 
sively.    First  our  thoughts  are  turned  (ch.  i.  5-8) 
to  the  need  of  inward  power. 
The  inward       "  But  if  any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom."    All  of  us 
th"soui        ^^^^  ^^  times  our  want  of  wisdom.    The  perplexing 
(sense  of      question  how  to  act  for  the  best  has  often  shown 

depend- 
ence), us  the  need  of  sage  counsel.  The  wisdom  de- 
sired at  such  times  is  wisdom  for  a  special  event. 
Is  not,  however,  wisdom  for  life  more  important 
than  wisdom  for  one  set  of  circumstances  ?  Do 
we  not  realise  that  one  of  the  best  gifts  which 
could  be  bestowed  upon  us  would  be  that  gift  of 
wide  and  general  wisdom  which  would   make  us 


INWARD  AND  OUT^VARD  FORCES      109 

skilful  and  prudent  in  the  conduct  of  our  lives  ? 
It  is  this  general  wisdom  which  St.  James  has  in 
mind.  What  he  has  just  written  about  patience 
and  the  trials  of  life  leads  him  to  remember  the 
common  human  need  of  that  larger  wisdom  which 
enables  a  man  to  guide  all  his  life-aflfairs  with 
discretion  (Ps.  cxii.). 

But  the  first  step  towards  this  wisdom  is  self- 
knowledge — i.e.,  the  consciousness  that  we  lack 
wisdom.  On  the  ocean  of  life  we  are  like  the 
Breton  fisherman  :  we  realise  that  the  sea  is  so 
great  and  our  boat  is  so  small,  and  therefore  we 
betake  ourselves  to  God,  for  the  sea  is  His  and 
He  made  it.  The  first  step  in  the  larger  wisdom 
is  the  realisation  of  our  dependence  upon  God. 
We  may  well  compare  this  with  the  principle  laid 
down  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  "  The  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom."  There  are 
indications  in  our  epistle  that  St.  James  was 
familiar  with  that  old  book  of  life-counsels  ;  but 
we  can  see  that  he  has  moved  forward,  and  taken 
a  step  above  the  level  of  that  ancient  Jewish 
wisdom.  He  lives  in  a  more  sunny  atmosphere. 
He  does  not  speak  of  fear  as  the  first  step  in 
wisdom.      Whatever  truth    there    may  be,  and 


no       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

doubtless  is,  iii  this  old  wisdom,  St.  James  has 
taken  a  step  beyond  it.     He  says  to  the  soul  con- 
scious of  its  lack  of  wisdom  that  its  security  lies 
in  the  character  of  God.     Man,  aware  of  his  want 
of  experience,   and  distrustful  of  self,  may  turn 
with  confidence  to  a  God  whose  property  is  ever 
gracious  generosity  and  ready  helpfulness.     "If 
any  of  you  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  who 
giveth  to  all  liberally  and  upbraideth  not,  and  it 
shall  be  given  him."     Do  we   not  feel  that  the 
man  who  wrote  these  words  has  caught  the  spirit 
of  his  Master's  teaching  ?     Do  we   not  hear  the 
music  of  Christ's  words  making  melody  in  his 
soul  as  he  pictures  the  ungrudging  liberality  of 
the    Father   God  ?      Those   gracious    words    of 
Christ  come  irresistibly  to  our  memory:  "Ask 
and  it  shall  be  given  you  ;  seek  and  ye  shall  find; 
knock  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  ...  Or 
what  man  is  there  of  you,  who,  if  his  son  shall 
ask  him  for  a  loaf,  will  he  give  him  a  stone  ;  or  if 
he  shall  ask  for  a  fish,  will  he  give  him  a  serpent? 
If  ye  then,   being  evil,   know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things 
to  them  that  ask  him  ?  "    (Matt.  vii.  7-1 1.)    "  He 


INWARD  AND  OUTWARD  FORCES      in 

giveth  to  all  men  liberally,"  writes  St.  James. 
"  He  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the 
good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust," 
says  Jesus  Christ  (Matt.  v.  45). 

We   are    prepared  by  these  thoughts  for    St.   The  inward 

forces  (con- 
James'  caution  to  him  who  asks  for  wisdom.    "  Let  fidence  in 

him  ask  in  faith."  St.  James  would  have  his 
hearers  realise  the  bounteous  character  of  the 
Heavenly  Father  :  he  takes  his  stand  on  the  char- 
acter of  God.  He  started  with  the  view  that  life 
properly  understood  and  properly  met  is  educa- 
tion ;  it  can  only  be  so  on  the  supposition  that  a 
divine  wisdom  and  love  guides  all.  Man  can  only 
enter  into  the  possession  of  true  wisdom  by  enter- 
ing into  fellowship  with  the  God  of  wisdom.  He 
does  this  when  he  throws  himself  unhesitatingly 
upon  the  guidance  of  God.  He  first  realises  his 
dependence  on  God;  he  then  realises  that  to  benefit 
by  the  operation  of  the  Divine  Order  of  things  he 
must  enter  into  fellowship  with  the  Divine  wis- 
dom ;  he  must  share  the  spirit  of  Him  who  governs 
all  things  in  heaven  and  earth :  to  do  this  is  to 
possess  a  portion  of  the  unfailing  wisdom.  But 
naturally  and  necessarily  the  condition  of  this 
fellowship  is  faith.     Since  how  can  he  enter  into 


112       WISDOM  0F£- JAMES  THE  JUST 

partnership  with  the  wisdom  that  rules  the  world 
unless  he  believes  in  that  wisdom  ?  Or  to  put  it 
in  another  way — how  can  he  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  the  Righteous  Ruler  of  all  unless  he  believes  in 
righteousness  ?  Faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of 
right — or,  better  still,  faith  in  right  itself — is  faith 
in  righteousness  ;  and  this  is  the  entering  into  the 
spirit  of  God,  for  to  have  this  faith  is  to  share  the 
spirit  of  Him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne  judging 
right.  Turn  the  thought  the  opposite  way ;  let  a 
man  begin  to  lose  faith  in  right ;  let  him  become 
the  victim  of  a  plausible  expediency  or  let  him 
become  influenced  by  self-interest ;  let  him  allow 
the  intrusion  of  any  thought  or  desire  which 
lessens  his  confidence  in  right  ;  and  he  of  neces- 
sity paralyses  his  power  of  approach  to  God  in 
prayer  ;  for  he  has  fallen  out  of  harmony  with  the 
spirit  of  righteousness.  This  will  be  the  clearer 
to  us  if  we  remember  that  wisdom  in  St.  James' 
view  is  not  mere  cleverness  or  adroitness,  or  the 
nimble  sagacity  based  on  three-score  years'  expe- 
rience of  the  tricks  of  men,  but  a  wisdom  ethical 
in  quality — a  wisdom  of  purity,  peacefulness, 
mercifulness  {cf.  iii.  17) — in  other  words,  a  wis- 
dom   based   on  righteousness,  and  so  involving 


INWARD  AND   OUTWARD  FORCES     ii3 

belief  in  goodness  as  a  guide  to  life.  To  possess 
this  is  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  God  :  to  doubt 
this  goodness  is  to  fall  out  of  harmony  with  that 
spirit.  To  ask  for  such  a  wisdom  while  we  dis- 
believe in  its  value  is  to  contradict  our  own 
prayers. 

There  is  therefore  a  certain  steadiness  of  soul 
needed  for  successful  prayer  :  no  man  can  truly 
pray  who  does  not  love  the  thing  which  his  God 
commands.  Hence,  all  wandering  desires  move 
man  from  this  steadfastness  of  soul,  and,  being 
hindrances  to  perfect  communion,  they  are 
obstacles  to  real  prayer.  From  this  principle  it 
follows  that  a  lack  of  real  and  full-hearted  desire 
on  our  part  paralyses  prayer  at  the  outset.  We 
do  not  pray  our  prayers  unless  we  truly  wish  the 
thing  we  pray  for.  The  divided  heart  does  not 
pray.  This  state  of  soul  is  glanced  at  by  St. 
James'  words,  "Let  him  ask  in  faith,  nothing 
doubting."  There  must  be  no  manner  of  doubt. 
Doubt  concerning  the  character  of  God,  or  dis- 
belief in  righteousness,  vitiates  all  prayer  for  the 
establishment  of  right,  and  similarly,  the  doubt- 
fulness of  a  divided  soul  enfeebles  prayer.  How 
often  we  pray  for  the  things  we  know  we  ought 

H 


114       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

to  desire,  but  as  we  pray  our  poor  weak  worldly 
hearts  cry  out  against  our  prayer  being  answered  ! 
When  such  a  condition  of  heart  prevails,  our  whole 
inward  being  is  disorganised.  Its  coherence  is 
broken  up ;  our  passions,  like  winds,  lash  our 
souls  into  storm.  He  that  is  divided  in  desire  is 
like  a  surge  of  the  sea,  wind-driven  and  shaken 
as  a  fan  is  shaken.  The  word  used  expresses  the 
movement  of  a  fan.  A  man  so  uncertain  cannot 
win  the  ear  of  heaven.  Let  not  that  man — such 
a  man  as  that — think  that  he  shall  receive  anything 
of  the  Lord  (i.  7).  Such  a  man  is  no  true  servant 
of  righteousness.  He  is  not  whole-hearted  ;  he 
is  not  single-minded.  He  is,  to  use  the  word  of 
St.  James,  a  double-minded  man.  Perhaps 
"  double-souled  "  would  express  the  thought  more 
clearly  to  modern  ears.  Double-minded  is  often 
used  to  mean  a  person  who  has  a  sinister  object  in 
.  view ;  who  is  seeking  definitely  some  selfish  end, 
while  he  is  plausible  enough  in  virtuous  or  flatter- 
ing speech.  But  there  is  no  vacillation  of  soul  in 
such  double-mindedness.  Such  a  man  is  wholly 
and  strongly  set  upon  his  own  objects.  The 
double-minded  man  whom  St.  James  has  in  mind 
is  the  man  whose  moral  nature  is  enfeebled  by 


INWARD  AND  OUTWARD  FORCES     115 

the  vacillation  and  double-hearted  condition  of  his 
own  soul.  He  would  fain  serve  God  and  mammon. 
He  would  do  right,  and  yet  would  wrongly  win. 
His  feet  will  move  from  the  doomed  city,  but,  like 
Lot's  wife,  his  eyes  are  looking  back  with  wistful 
regret.  Such  men  are  the  Reubens  of  life  to  whom 
all  excellence  is  denied  (Gen.  xlix.  4).  His  heart 
is  vacillating;  his  conduct  is  uncertain.  He  is 
the  double-minded  man,  unstable  in  all  his  ways. 
God  wants  not  such  servants.  He  wants  rock-like 
men  who  can  stand  four  square  to  all  the  winds 
that  blow.  He  wants  single-minded  men  whose 
souls  are  illumined  with  the  certainty  of  right.  He 
wants  men  whose  sympathies  are  unalterably  with 
righteousness.  Such  men  are  invincible — win 
their  petitions — for  those  who  live  in  the  divine 
thought,  and  whose  hearts  love  the  divine  com- 
mandments are  invincible  in  prayer.'  "  If,"  said 
Jesus  Christ,  "  ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide 
in  you,  ask  whatsoever  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be 
done  unto  you."     (John  xv.  7.) 

I  have  tried  to  show  that  the  paragraphs  in  the  The  ex= 

/•  \  ,.    .    .  ,     rr^  ternal 

passage  (1.  5-12)  are  not  disjointed.  The  sequence  forces  in 
of  thought  will  be  clear  to  those  who  have  so  develop' 
realised  the  earnestness  with  which  St.  James  has  "'®"*- 


ii6       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

urged  whole-heartedness  on  his  hearers.  Man 
ought  to  be  hke  Jerusalem,  a  city  at  unity  in 
itself.  He  should  possess  individuality,  the  mys- 
terious and  impressive  coherence  of  soul  which 
belongs  to  men  of  purpose.  He  should  be,  not 
driftwood,  but  an  actor  in  hfe's  strife;  he  should 
be  a  voice,  not  an  echo  ;  he  should  be  the  slave 
of  no  desire,  still  less  the  victim  of  many  conflict- 
ing ones.  Some  supreme  dominating  principle 
should  govern  his  life.  We  consent  to  this  view 
when  we  think  of  what  true  manhood  is,  when  we 
realise  man's  capacity  and  the  dignity  of  character 
which  is  open  to  him.  But  we  recognise  still 
more  the  necessity  for  some  strong  individuality 
of  character  when  we  remember  the  nature  of  those 
external  circumstances  which  try  and  test  men. 

To  these  St.  James  now  turns  (ch.  i.  9-21). 
He  touches  on  the  vicissitudes  of  life  in  a  brief 
and  illustrative  way.  He  takes  poverty  and 
wealth ;  he  pictures  the  rich  man  who  has  fallen 
upon  evil  times ;  and  he  indicates  the  stead- 
fastness of  soul  with  which  such  vicissitudes 
should  be  met.  Such  trials  were  common  enough 
at  a  time  when  followers  of  Christ  suffered  the 
loss  of  all  things  for  their  Master's  sake.     The 


INWARD  AND  OUTWARD  FORCES     117 

power  of  Christianity  then  showed  itself  in  the 
unconquerable  joy  which  characterised  Christians 
in  the  midst  of  such  trials.  St.  Paul  counted 
all  things — which  he  once  valued — as  worthless 
compared  with  what  he  won  and  found  in  Christ 
(Phil.  iii.  7,  8).  The  note  of  joy  meets  us  in 
the  New  Testament,  yet  we  know  something 
of  what  these  writers  endured — loss  of  wealth, 
loss  of  social  position,  the  scorn  of  friends,  the 
bitter  hostility  of  foes.  Life  was  not  easier  to 
Nicodemus,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  Barnabas, 
when  they  threw  in  their  lot  with  Christ.  But 
they  could  rejoice  in  whatever  lowering  of  pres- 
tige or  lessening  of  means  came  to  them  in  con- 
sequence of  their  faith.  This  joy  in  spite  of  cir- 
cumstances shows  a  condition  of  mind  higher  than 
that  of  stoical  pride  ;  for  pride  of  this  quahty 
tends  to  cynicism  ;  but  in  joy  there  is  no  cynicism. 
The  secret  of  the  Christian  joy  in  earthly 
vicissitude  lies  in  the  complete  revolution  of  their 
views  of  life.  The  light  of  heaven  transforms 
the  whole  world.  When  it  shines  men  see  things 
no  longer  in  shadow,  but  as  they  truly  are.  The 
really  valuable  things  are  the  ethical  and  spiritual. 
A  man's  life  does  not  consist  of  the  abundance  of 


ii8        WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

the  things  which  he  possesses.  A  man's  hfe  is 
nearness  to  God,  likeness  to  his  Father  in  heaven. 
All  that  makes  for  this  is  good.  The  turning 
wheel  of  fortune  can  bring  nothing  but  good. 
Patience  will  work  experience,  and  experience 
hope.  All  things  will  work  together  for  good, 
therefore  all  can  be  met  with  joy.  The  loss  of 
wealth  is  nothing  to  him  whose  riches  are  things 
spiritual,  and  whose  treasure  therefore  is  of  a  kind 
outside  the  reach  of  earthly  change.  The  rich 
man  in  St.  James'  day  did  meet  with  humiliation. 
He  felt  it,  as  men  must  feel  change,  but  he  had  a 
compensating  joy  in  the  access  of  inner  peace. 
He  could  realise  the  beatitude  of  the  poor,  for  he 
measured  riches  by  spiritual  affinity  with  God  ;  he 
measured  life  by  service.  Earthly  means  were 
only  of  secondar}^  importance,  valuable  only  as 
means  of  service.  Therefore  the  soul  in  xvhich 
Christ  dwelt  could  strike  the  note  of  gladness 
whatever  fate  or  fortune  came.  His  song,  like  the 
song  of  a  lark,  was  sung  close  to  the  gate  of 
heaven,  and  poured  forth  from  a  heart  rich  with 
spiritual  joy  and  strong  in  the  inspiring  sense  of 
the  love  of  God. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS 
Ch.  i.  12-19 

The  paragraph   of  the  letter,  to  which  we  now 
come,  is  contained  in  chap.  i.   12-18.     First  let 
us  read  it,  and  observe  its  drift,  and  its  bearing 
on  the  general  thought  advanced  by  St.  James. 
The  passage  runs  thus  in  the  Revised  Version  : 

12.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation  :  for  when 
he  hath  been  approved,  he  shall  receive  the  crown  of  life, 
which  the  Lord  promised  to  them  that  love  him. 

13.  Let  no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted  of 
God  :  for  God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,  and  He  Himself 
tempteth  no  man  : 

14.  But  each  man  is  tempted,  when  he  is  drawn  away  by 
his  own  lust,  and  enticed. 

15.  Then  the  lust,  when  it  hath  conceived,  beareth  sin  : 
and  the  sin,  when  it  is  full  grown,  bringeth  forth  death. 

16.  Be  not  deceived,  my  beloved  brethren. 

17.  Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  boon  is  from  above, 
coming  down  from  the  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  can  be 
no  variation,  neither  shadow  that  is  cast  by  turning. 

18.  Of  His  own  will  He  brought  us  forth  by  the  word  of 
truth,  that  we  should  be  a  kind  of  first  fruits  of  His  creatures. 


I20       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 
The  drift  Such  is  the  paraoraph.     Let  us  notice  its  drift. 

of  the  r-         o      r 

passage.  St.  James  regards  the  man  who  has  endured 

temptation  as  happy.  Trial  is  capable  of  bring- 
ing a  blessing  ;  in  it  lies  the  road  which  leads  to 
the  winning  of  the  crown  of  life.  Trial  tests  the 
stuff  that  is  in  a  man.  It  is  a  revealing  power; 
it  discloses  the  strength  in  the  strong,  the  weak- 
ness in  the  weak.  The  weak  man  blames  circum- 
stances for  his  failures  :  the  strongman  examines 
and  blames  himself.  The  weak  man  says,  "  I 
am  tempted  of  God,"  or,  "  Why  does  God  allow 
this  ?  "  In  saying  this,  he  shows  that  he  mistakes 
himself,  and  misjudges  God.  It  is  not  in  God's 
nature  to  tempt  men  to  evil  ;  but  it  is  in  man's 
nature  to  be  led  astray  by  desire,  and  desire  in- 
dulged opens  the  way  to  the  kingdom  of  death. 
Herein  lies  one  of  the  dangerous  self-deceptions 
by  which  weak  men  surround  themselves.  Be 
not  deceived,  therefore  says  St.  James  (i.  i6), 
but  realise  that  you  live  in  the  kingdom  of  God, 
the  kingdom  of  light,  for  God  is  the  Father  of 
lights,  and  from  Him  every  kind  of  good  comes  ; 
in  Him  is  no  shadow  ;  but  only  light  and  only 
good  (i.  17).  Nor  is  His  a  quiescent  goodness, 
remaining  passive  at  some  inaccessible  centre  of 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS        121 

light.  His  goodness  is  active;  it  goes  forth  with 
quickening  energy,  freely,  of  His  own  will.  The 
Christian  life,  and  the  power  which  is  in  it,  is  an 
evidence  of  this  truth,  for  to  Him  we  owe  our 
realisation  of  the  true  life,  which  should  be  lived 
by  the  Sons  of  God.  "  Of  His  own  will  He 
brought  us  forth  by  the  word  of  truth"  (v.  18). 
This  quickening  energy  of  the  divine  goodness 
reveals  that  God  has  a  purpose  in  view.  He  is 
good ;  He  diffuses  good ;  and  He  calls  men  to 
His  side  that  they  may  become  witnesses  of  good 
and  for  good.  His  aim  in  manifesting  the  power 
of  a  regenerate  life  in  Christians  is  that  they  may 
bear  witness  to  what  all  men  are  called  to  be. 
He  brought  us  forth  that  we  might  be  a  kind 
of  first-fruits  of  His  creatures,  the  earnest  and 
token  of  what  the  general  harvest  of  the  world 
will  be. 

As  we  drink  in  this  teaching  of  St.  James,  we 
can  realise  how  full  His  heart  was  of  one  great 
truth.  Life  is  education  ;  at  least,  it  becomes  a 
wholesome  and  happy  education  to  those  who 
allow  it  to  be  so.  In  the  field  of  nature  harvests 
are  determined  not  by  the  weather  only,  but  by 
the  qualit}^  of  the  seed  ;  and  it  is  the  same  with 


The  crown 
of  life. 


122       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

life-results  also.  If  we  possess  the  strong  and 
courageous  heart  of  faith ;  if  we  are  believers  in 
righteousness  and  goodness  ;  then  the  vicissitudes 
of  life  will  bring  their  benediction ;  we  shall 
emerge  the  stronger  for  trial ;  the  crown  of  life 
will  be  ours.  But  if  we  give  way  to  a  weak 
petulance,  blame  circumstances,  and  ignore  the 
influence  of  our  own  foolish  and  selfish  desires, 
we  shall  become  blind  to  the  goodness  which  is 
educating  us,  and  we  shall  miss  the  goal  of  exist- 
ence; we  shall  fail  to  bear  witness  to  that  higher 
life,  to  which  all  men  are  called  as  the  sons  of 
Him  who  is  not  the  author  of  darkness  but  the 
Father  of  light. 

The  section  may  now  be  considered  in  detail; 
it  falls  into  four  natural  divisions. 

"  Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation  " 
(v.  12).  Like  his  master,  St.  James  gives  us  a 
beatitude.  If  we  examine  the  beatitudes  of  the 
New  Testament  we  shall  find  one  common  feature. 
None  of  them  refer  to  material  wealth  or  worldly 
prosperity.  They  come  to  us  in  a  great  variety 
of  forms ;  but  they  are  all  united  in  this  that 
happiness  lies  in  character,  not  in  circumstances. 
The  poor  in   spirit,  the  meek,  the  merciful,  the 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS  123 

pure  in  heart,  the  peacemaker,  are  the  liappy. 
Some  indeed  refer  to  earthly  circumstances,  to 
sorrow,  to  persecution,  to  temptation,  but  in  each 
of  these  instances,  it  is  not  the  mere  outward 
circumstances  which  constitute  the  blessing ;  it  is 
rather  the  temperament  or  character  shown  in 
trial  or  persecution  or  sorrow,  which  finds  the 
benediction.  The  only  exception,  and  this  is  but 
superficial,  is  the  beatitude,  "  Blessed  are  the3' 
that  mourn."  At  first  sight  this  seems  to  deal 
merely  with  sorrow  as  a  common  circumstance  of 
life,  and  to  leave  the  ethical  condition  out  of  view. 
But  the  power  to  mourn  is  clearly  not  to  be 
limited  to  the  personal  experience  of  sorrow ;  for 
every  one  mourns  when  sorrow  comes ;  but  those 
who  have  lofty  ideals  and  kindly  hearts  mourn, 
even  when  their  own  lot  is  happy,  because  like 
their  master,  they  can  feel  for  the  sorrows  and 
deplore  the  sins  of  the  world.  The  true-hearted 
find  reasons  of  mourning  beyond  their  own  homes. 
In  all  the  beatitudes  of  the  New  Testament,  the 
ethical  basis  of  real  life  is  either  implied  or 
expressed. 

We  find  this  to  be  true  in  the  beatitude  here. 
It  is  not  the  man  who  meets  temptation  who  is 


124       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

blessed;  it  is  the  man  who  endures;  it  is  the 
man  who  stands  at  his  post,  bearing  himself  with 
patience  and  courage  to  the  last,  who  is  blessed. 
His  benediction  is  not  evident  at  once.  In  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  sometimes  in  his  own  eyes,  his 
lot  is  far  from  happy.  Like  St.  Paul,  he  may  feel 
himself  set  forth  as  a  spectacle  of  suffering  before 
the  eyes  of  the  world ;  afflictions,  necessities, 
stripes,  imprisonments,  may  be  his  portion  (2  Cor. 
vi.  4-10).  These  things  in  themselves  are  not 
elements  of  happiness ;  they  are  hard  to  bear ; 
they  are  at  the  time  they  befall  us,  as  the  writer 
of  the  Hebrew  says — not  joyous  but  grievous 
(Heb.  xii.  11);  but  afterward  the  blessing  comes  ; 
afterward  it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of 
righteousness  unto  them  that  have  been  exercised 
thereby  (and  the  words  may  be  noted  as  an 
excellent  commentary  on  the  beatitude  of  St. 
James).  It  is  upon  the  exercised  soul  that  the 
blessing  falls  ;  it  is  when  the  man  that  has  endured 
has  shown  his  quality,  and  comes  forth  tested  and 
"  approved  "  that  the  reward  comes. 

The  reward  is  the  crown  of  life.  There  are 
two  words  for  crown  ;  one  is  Stephanos,  the  other 
the  Greek  equivalent  for  the  word  diadem.     In 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS        125 

Archbishop  Trench's  view,  the  diadem  was  the 
kingly  crown,  while  Stephanos  was  the  wreath  of 
the  conqueror;  but  Professor  Mayor  has  cited 
passages  which  show  that  Stephanos  was  used  in 
the  septuagint  for  the  kingly  crown :  thus  the 
golden  crown  of  the  King  of  Amnion  is  called 
Stephanos  (2  Sam,  xii.  30).  If  this  be  so,  the 
idea  of  royalty  as  well  as  that  of  victory  may  be 
associated  with  the  word  Stephanos,  the  word 
used  here  by  St.  James.  The  notion  of  victory 
is  clearly  present ;  the  whole  passage  suggests 
the  enduring  courage  and  resistance  in  the  con- 
flict with  temptation,  but  there  is  room  for  the 
idea  of  kingship  also ;  the  man  who  is  victor  wins 
the  wreath  of  victory,  but  the  man  that  has 
endured,  and  comes  forth  tested  and  approved 
enters  into  the  true  sovereignty  over  himself ; 
this  is  the  kingship  to  which  all  Christian  people 
are  called ;  they  are  priests,  who  present  them- 
selves as  a  living  sacrifice  to  God  (Rom.  xii.  i); 
they  are  kings  who  in  self-surrender  find  them- 
selves, and  so  enter  with  possession  of  their  own 
kingdom.  When  Dante  had  climbed  to  the 
summit  of  the  hill  of  Purgatory,  where  he  van- 
quished   the     passions    which    like   rebels    had 


126        WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST  - 

dethroned  him,  he  was  crowned  with  crown  and 
mitre,  the  symbols  of  self-mastery  and  self- 
sacrifice,  which  according  to  St.  James  are  the 
true  service  and  worship  of  Christian  life  (i.  27). 


Thepowei-s  13.  Let  no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted  of 
God :  for  God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,  and  He  Himself 
tempteth  no  man  : 

14,  But  each  man  is  tempted,  \vhen  he  is  drawn  away  by 
his  own  lust,  and  enticed, 

15.  Then  the  lust,  when  it  hath  conceived,  beareth  sin  : 
and  the  sin,  when  it  is  full  grown,  bringeth  forth  death. — 
Ch.  i.  13-15. 

The  man  described  here  throws  the  blame  of 
his  failure  upon  God.  **  I  am  tempted  of  God." 
It  is  like  saying :  "  The  fault  is  not  mine,  but 
God's."  St.  James  does  not  mean  that  the  man 
says  crudely,  "  I  am  tempted  of  God,"  as  though 
the  immediate  temptation  to  which  he  was  exposed 
was  directly  God's  doing.  He  pictures  the  man 
as  saying  that  the  blame  of  the  temptation,  if 
traced  back  to  its  ultimate  source,  belongs  to  God. 
He  uses  a  preposition  which  expresses  not  the 
near  and  visible,  but  the  remote  and  unseen  cause 
of  the  temptation.  Professor  Mayor  illustrates 
the  difference  by  reference  to  the  story  of  the 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS         127 

fall.  Eve  was  the  near  and  immediate  cause  of 
Adam's  fall,  but  Adam  endeavours  to  make  God 
responsible.  "  The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to 
be  with  me."  The  woman  gave  the  fruit  to  Adam, 
but  then  God  gave  the  woman. 

It  is  then  the  habit  of  excusing  self  by  throwing 
the  blame  on  circumstances,  on  destiny,  on  the 
nature  and  order  of  things,  which  St.  James  is 
here  rebuking.  It  is  a  common  habit  enough, 
and  one  into  which  all  of  us  readily  fall.  It  is 
modern  ;  it  is  ancient ;  it  is  universal ;  it  is,  as 
we  say,  human  nature.  It  was  noticed  by  the 
wisdom  of  other  times.  Man  falls  through  his 
own  folly,  but  he  puts  the  blame  on  God.  Such 
is  the  reflection  we  meet  with  in  Proverbs  xix.  3. 
"  The  foolishness  of  man  subverteth  his  way,  and 
his  heart  fretteth  against  the  Lord,"  i.e.,  he 
murmurs  against  the  divine  order,  though  it  is  his 
own  folly  which  has  caused  him  to  fall.  The 
Septuagint  version  boldly  expresses  this,  render- 
ing it  "  in  his  heart  he  blames  God,"  or  alleges 
God  to  be  the  cause  of  his  misfortune.  This 
unhealthy  attitude  of  mind  St.  James  denounces  ; 
and  for  his  denunciation  he  gives  two  reasons — 
the  nature  of  God,  and  the  nature  of  man. 


128       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

I.  This  casting  blame  upon  God  shows  igno- 
rance of  the  divine  nature.  "  God  cannot  be 
tempted  with  evil,  and  He  Himself  tempteth  no 
man." 

The  sentence  expresses  a  supreme  principle, 
and  a  necessary  inference. 

1  he  principle  is — God  cannot  be  tempted  with 
evil.  His  nature  is,  by  hypothesis,  essentially 
good :  He  is  unsusceptible  of  evil.  St.  James 
returns  to  this  view  in  verse  17;  it  is  clear  that 
this  is  to  him  an  aphorism  of  faith  ;  it  is  a  truth 
which  lies  in  the  nature  of  things.  To  think 
otherwise  is  to  deny  God.  Once  admit  that  God 
is  open  to  the  influence  of  evil,  and  the  whole 
conception  of  the  righteous  order  of  things 
becomes  a  dream ;  a  God  who  is  susceptible  of 
evil  is  a  dethroned  God.  His  sovereignty  is  the 
sovereignty  of  goodness.  From  this  it  follows 
that  He  Himself  tempteth  no  man.  How  can  the 
all  good  one,  whose  very  nature  is  essential  good- 
ness, lay  Himself  out  to  lead  men  into  sin  ?  To 
think  this  is  an  impossibility.  "  Per  la  contra- 
dizion  che  nol  consente."  "  By  contradiction 
absolute  forbid,"  as  Dante  says  (Inf.  xxvii.  120). 
The  goodness  of  God  is  the  ultimate  guarantee  of 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS         129 

hope,  faith  and  right.  In  the  stainless  purity  of 
His  character  Hes  our  security.  If  saints  can 
give  thanks  at  the  remembrance  of  His  holiness, 
struggling  men  may  take  courage  also,  since  God's 
purity  is  not  against  us,  but  for  us  in  our  conflict 
with  evil.  It  is  madness  to  throw  away  this 
sheet  anchor  of  faith.  This  anchor  holds ;  it 
saves  from  shipwreck ;  it  can  never  be  a  cause  of 
disaster.  If  we  fall  it  is  because  other  causes  are 
at  work.  These,  according  to  St.  James,  arise 
from  man  himself.  We  thus  reach  the  second 
reason. 

2.  The  nature  of  man.  "  God  made  man  holy," 
says  the  ancient  writer.  If  the  principle  of  the 
inevitable  and  invariable  goodness  of  God  be 
true,  it  follows  that  man's  sin  is  not  from  God. 
It  comes,  says  St.  James,  from  man's  lust.  "  Each 
man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  by  his 
own  lust "  (i.  14).  Observe  St.  James  does  not 
say  that  desire  in  itself  is  evil ;  the  sin,  according 
to  him,  comes  in  at  a  later  stage.  Desire,  when 
uncontrolled  or  ill-regulated,  becomes  the  cause 
of  sin.  To  this  root  the  evil  has  been  traced  by 
the  best  philosophy,  and  by  the  noblest  religions. 
Buddhism  saw  this  truth,  but  saw  in  desire,  not 

X 


130       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

a  power  which  might  be  disciplined,  but  a  force 
which  must  be  annihilated.  Every  desire  must 
be  quenched ;  only  in  a  passionless  state  could 
peace  be  found. 

"  From  lust  comes  grief,  from  lust  comes  fear; 
he  who  is  free  from  lust  knows  neither  grief  nor 
fear."  So  writes  the  Buddhist  (Dhammapada 
Ch.  xvi.).  But  he  also  says,  "  From  love  comes 
grief,  from  love  comes  fear  ;  he  who  is  free  from 
love  knows  neither  grief  nor  fear."  The  Chris- 
tian teacher  does  not  labour  to  suppress  love,  but 
to  enlarge  its  channel  and  to  purify  its  current. 
He  knows  that  desire  is  not  bad  in  itself,  but  only 
bad  when  it  becomes  the  master,  instead  of  the 
servant  of  its  Lord. 

The  lineage  of  sin  and  death  is  set  forth  by 
St,  James  (i.  15).  He  sees  the  stages;  the  im- 
pulsive stage,  in  which  lust  draws  man  aside; 
this  is  followed  by  the  wilful  stage ;  the  will  is 
brought  into  co-operation  :  then  follows  the  death 
stage,  when  the  will  is  led  captive,  and  sin  is 
deliberate.  Compare  Christ's  parable  of  the  un- 
clean spirit,  and  the  house  left  empty,  swept  and 
garnished.  Compare  also  the  gradations  of  wrong 
indicated   in    the   descending  circles  of   Dante's, 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS         131 

"Inferno";  the  sins  of  impulse,  lust,  gluttony, 
greed,  come  first ;  then  the  waters  of  discontent 
are  passed,  and  City  of  Dis  is  reached ;  the  circles 
then  disclose  the  punishment  of  those  whose  sins 
are  more  and  more  deliberate,  designed  and  crafty. 
The  passage  in  which  Milton  works  out  the  pedi- 
gree of  sin  should,  of  course,  be  read. 

St.  James  pictures  lust  as  the  Delilah,  leading 
the  soul  astray.  Lust,  says  the  Buddhist,  is  the 
Mother ;  Ignorance  is  the  Father.  The  death 
which  follows  depends  in  each  case  upon  the 
direction  of  the  desire.  Bodily  decay,  disease, 
death,  follow  the  dissolute  life.  But  there  is  also 
a  state  of  psychical  death  which  is  the  position 
of  those  who  become  slaves  of  other  lusts.  The 
greedy  and  avaricious  soul  finds  death  in  the 
decay  of  humane  feelings.  Covetousness  is 
cruel  in  its  indifference.  Witness  Dives,  unob- 
servant of  Lazarus  at  his  gate. 

16.  Be  not  deceived,  my  beloved  brethren.  The 

17.  Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  boon  is  from  above,    changeless 
coming  down  from  the  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  can  be 

no  variation,  neither  shadow  that  is  cast  by  turning, 

The  solemn  injunction  "Be  not  deceived"  seems 


132       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

to  point  to  the  inevitable  law  which  works  in  the 
spiritual  world.  St.  James  traces  the  pedigree  of 
sin  ;  it  is  a  series  of  sequences  :  the  result  follows 
as  a  matter  of  course.  It  is  well  to  observe  that 
the  law  of  development  operates  in  both  direc- 
tions— towards  death  and  towards  life,  towards 
evil  and  towards  good.  Thus  sin  has  a  tdos  or 
end  towards  which  it  tends ;  so  also  has  virtue  ; 
sin  is  matured  in  action ;  faith  is  matured  also  in 
action  (ii.  22).  The  law  of  sequence  works  in 
Christian  experience  towards  some  consistent 
end.  Tribulation  worketh  patience,  compare 
Rom.  v.  3.  We  can,  therefore,  realise  the  force 
of  the  caution  "  Be  not  deceived."  Men  deceive 
themselves  by  imagining  that  they  can  pursue  a 
certain  course  and  escape  the  consequences ;  such 
a  thought  is  folly,  St.  James  tells  us.  He  is  at 
one  with  St.  Paul.  *'  Be  not  deceived ;  God 
is  not  mocked  :  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth, 
that  shall  he  also  reap."  (Gal.  vi.  7.)  The  law 
works,  though  men  sleep  dreaming  deceitful 
dreams.  The  dragon  teeth  when  sown  spring 
up  as  armed  men.  The  whirlwind  is  the  harvest 
of  the  wind.  The  evil  works  evil  :  but  also  the 
good  works  good.     Not  only  disease,  but  health 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS         133 

also  is  infectious.  If  out  of  the  bad  comes  the 
bad,  from  the  good  can  come  only  the  good. 
Thus  we  are  brought  back  by  a  natural  sequence 
of  thought  to  God,  the  good  one,  whose  nature 
no  evil  can  touch — to  God,  who  is  the  source  of 
good  and  only  of  good. 

Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  boon  is  from 
above  (i.  17).  The  words  gift  and  boon  here 
might  be  rendered  all  good  giving  and  every 
perfect  gift  is  from  above ;  thus  covering  every 
aspect  of  the  beneficence ;  the  giving  is  good ; 
the  gift  is  perfect — i.e.,  good  and  fitting.  The 
giving  and  the  gift  are  put,  as  it  were  together ; 
when  so  joined  the  wisdom  of  the  beneficence  is 
seen.  God  gives  liberally  (i.  5)  but  He  also  gives 
according  to  measure  :  He  graduates  His  gifts  to 
suit  men's  needs.  Thus  He  is  the  author  and 
giver  of  all  good  things.  All  skill,  genius,  insight 
power  of  utterance  and  gift  of  imagination,  as 
well  as  all  the  sweet  graces  of  the  soul,  are  from 
above.  God  is  the  Father  of  Lights,  and  every 
kind  of  illumination  which  brightens  human  life 
is  derived  from  Him. 

St.  James  fixes  his  thought  upon  another  aspect 
of  the  good  which  comes  from  God.     The  illustra- 


134      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

tration  of  light  carries  him  forward  in  his  thought. 
Light  as  it  is  seen  in  the  material  world  is  not 
always  constant ;  it  appeared  (we  must  put  our- 
selves back  into  the  thoughts  of  the  first  century, 
and  forget  for  a  moment  modern  science)  that  the 
sun  was  variable  in  its  gift  of  light ;  now  it  gave 
light  and  warmth  with  long  and  unstinting  hand ; 
again,  with  shortened  days  and  scantier  heat,  the 
sun's  gifts  came  grudgingly ;  to  the  ancients  this 
seemed  to  indicate  variableness  ;  indeed,  we  know 
that  under  the  influence  of  nature  worship,  men 
feared,  as  the  days  of  winter  shortened,  that  the 
fire-god  was  about  to  withdraw  his  gifts  altogether. 
With  God,  says  St.  James,  there  can  never  be 
variableness;  His  goodness  is  constant.  With 
Him,  too,  there  can  be  no  shadow — like  that 
arising  from  the  inconstancy  (as  the  ancient 
thought)  of  nature.  Change  brings  shadow,  with 
God  is  no  change,  and  therefore  no  shadow.  "  I 
am  the  Lord  ;  I  change  not "  was  the  prophet's 
witness  (Mai.  iii.  6) ;  with  it  we  may  compare  the 
Christian  confidence  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day  and  for  ever  (Heb.  xiii.  8). 
Modern  knowledge  has  endorsed  the  thought  of 
this  constancy,  by  revealing  to  us  that  even  the 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS        135 

apparent  changes  in  nature  are  the  expressions  of 
an  unchanging  order. 


Of  His  own  will  He  brought  us  forth  by  the  word  of  truth,    The 

that  we  should  be  a  kind  of  first  fruits  of  His  creatures. —    earnest  of 

realised 
Ch.  i.  18.  ideals. 

God  is  the  author  of  all  good.  Is  witness 
needed  ?  The  spectacle  of  Christian  lives  fur- 
nished such ;  but  with  the  practical  bent  of  his 
mind,  St.  James  throws  into  this  statement  the 
suggestion  of  the  Christian  duty  and  calling. 
God  gives  good  gifts,  but  He  gives  them  for  good. 
On  man  devolves  the  responsibility  for  the  use  of 
gifts.  He  gives  for  a  purpose;  the  Christian  is 
called  to  fulfil  a  divine  purpose. 

There  is  a  call.  The  inward  divine  life  is  from 
God.  "  Of  His  own  will  He  brought  us  forth  " 
(i.  18).  The  life-power  is  His.  The  following 
passages  should  be  compared:  John  i.  13  and 
I  Pet.  i.  3.  The  instrument  of  this  new  life  is 
declared  by  St.  James  to  be  the  word  of  truth. 
This  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  teaching  else- 
where— St.  Peter  speaks  of  being  born  again,  not 
of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  through 


136         WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

the  word  of  God.  (i  Pet.  i.  23-25.)  With  this 
should  be  compared  Matt.  iv.  4,  John  vi.  6^,  and 
2  Cor.  V.  17,  and  i.  21  of  our  Epistle. 

But  all  divine  force  is  directed  towards  an  end. 
Nothing  is  purposeless  in  God's  universe.  If  He 
gives  fire  to  the  heart  of  the  sun,  it  is  that  the 
sun  may  radiate  light  and  heat.  If  He  gives  the 
fire  of  a  regenerated  life  to  the  hearts  of  His 
children,  it  is  that  they  may  give  light. 

God  does  as  men 
With  candles  do — not  light  them  for  themselves. 

The  light  given  by  Christian  lives  is,  according 
to  St.  James,  a  witness,  or  a  prophecy  to  the 
world.  Christians  are  designed  to  be  a  kind  of 
first-fruits  of  God's  creatures. 

The  first-fruits  are  indications  or  specimens,  to 
use  a  commercial  word,  of  the  harvest.  When 
the  first-fruits  are  brought  in,  men  can  realise  the 
kind  of  harvest  which  is  at  hand.  St.  Paul  alludes 
to  this — if  the  first-fruit  is  holy,  so  is  the  lump 
(Rom.  xi.  16).  The  prophet  Jeremiah  describes 
Israel  as  "  holiness  to  the  Lord  and  the  first-fruits 
of  his  increase  "  (Jer.  ii.  3).  There  is  thus  always 
a  looking  forward  to  some  great  future  implied  in 


THE  CONFLICT  FOR  IDEALS         137 

the  image  of  the  first-fruits.  For  this  reason 
Christ  is  called  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept 
(i  Cor.  XV.  20),  and  Christian  hearts  are  said  to 
possess  the  first-fruits  of  the  spirit,  an  earnest 
and  pledge  of  the  fuller  life  of  the  spirit  among 
all  when  the  revealing  of  the  sons  of  God  takes 
place  (Rom.  viii.  23).  The  first-fruits  were 
offered  to  God  to  show  that  all  the  harvest  was 
God's.  Christians  thus  are  first-fruits  and  they 
are  those  who  live  as  God's  children,  and,  so  living, 
make  constant  affirmation  that  all  men  are  God's 
children.  To  be  thus  witnesses  of  God's  claim 
upon  all,  of  God's  power  and  spirit  available  for 
all,  the  new  life  of  the  spirit  was  conferred  upon 
regenerate  souls.  Thus  there  is  a  true,  real,  and 
inspiring  purpose  set  before  them.  The  position 
of  the  possessive  pronoun  His  ("His  creatures") 
is  unusual.  The  emphasis  lies  in  the  thought  that 
all  creatures  are  God's,  His  creation.  His  posses- 
sion, and  that  they  only  fulfil  their  true  life  in  being 
His. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CHARACTER  REVEALED  IN  CONDUCT 

Ch.  i.  ig-end 
Drift  of  the   -j^j^jr  writer  has  led  us  on    to    realise    that    our 

passage. 

caUing  is  to  be  living  messages  of  hope  to  man- 
kind. Trial  works  good ;  it  trains  character ;  it 
develops  and  reveals  the  heaven-like  qualities  oi 
which  man  is  capable.  To  give  expression  to 
these  in  life  is  the  Christian  calling.  We  arc 
called  to  be  first-fruits,  earnests,  and  evidences 
of  what  all  may  become.  If  we  are  thus  called 
to  shadow  forth,  both  in  life  and  character,  hints 
of  the  ideal  life  and  the  ideal  character,  it  behoves 
us  to  translate  our  calling  into  reality.  Hence 
the  advice  :  Express  in  living  and  practical  fashit  a 
the  divine  purpose,  revealed  in  your  calling.  Be 
eager  therefore  to  learn ;  be  slow  to  speak,  for 
chatter  is  not  character.  Avoid  unreality  in 
speech  and  in  sentiment.  Be  neither  arrogantly 
desirous  of  setting  others  right,  nor  get  emotion- 


listen. 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT         139 

ally  greedy  of  much  hearing.  Check  the  thought 
by  learning  to  listen :  check  idle  listening  by 
practical  obedience.  Be  real,  and  let  the  best 
expression  of  your  worship  be  a  character,  pure 
and  benevolent.  Be  pitiful,  loving  messengers  of 
God  to  men  as  your  Master  was. 

Such  is  the  summary  of  St.  James'  teaching  m 
the  closing  verses  of  Chapter  i. 

We  must  now  follow  out  the  teaching  of  these  wisdom 
verses  more  in  detail.     "Ye  know  this  (or  know  silent  and 
ye  this),  my  beloved  brethren.     But  let  every  man 
be  swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak,  slow  to  wrath  : 
for  the  wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  "  (verse  19). 

Ye  know  this — the  Greek  word  is  only  used 
here  and  in  two  other  places  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, viz.,  Eph.  V.  5  and  Heb.  xii.  17,  Its  force 
seems  to  be,  "  this  is  evident."  The  point  need 
not  be  laboured.  But,  as  a  practical  result  of 
your  recognition  of  your  calling — let  every  man 
be  a  learner. 

Swift  to  hear — the  thought  rises  out  of  the 
writer's  declaration  that  the  recognition  of  their 
calling  was  awakened  by  the  word  of  truth 
(verse  18).     The  general  attitude  of  mind  is  to  be 


I40       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

that  of  learners.  The  more  keenly  we  realise 
that  we  are  called  to  manifest  God's  kingdom,  the 
more  naturally  shall  we  be  ready  to  learn.  There 
are  some  who  are  "  ever  learning,  and  never  able 
to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth"  (2  Tim. 
iii.  7)  ;  but  there  are  insincere  learners  ;  they  are 
laden  with  divers  lusts,  and  so  misled  by  desire. 
Compare  Christ's  declaration  that  social  ambition 
hinders  the  apprehension  of  truth  (John  v.  44). 
Slow  to  speak.  The  one  duty  follows  the  other. 
The  man  who  is  wishful  to  learn  gains  also  the 
habit  of  thoughtfulness,  and  is  not  likely  to  be 
rash  or  impatient  in  utterance.  Reckless  speech 
denotes  a  thoughtless  nature.  Hence  the  reflec- 
tion of  the  wise  man  (Prov.  x.  19),  "  In  the  multi- 
tude of  words  there  wanteth  not  sin,"  or  that 
other  3'et  more  significant  utterance  (Prov.  xiii.  3), 
"  He  that  keepeth  his  mouth  keepeth  his  life."; 
The  relation  between  speaking  and  hearing  has 
been  the  subject  of  many  proverbs  and  sayings, 
the  most  often  quoted  of  which  is  perhaps  the 
quaint  one  of  Zeno,  that  we  have  two  ears  and 
but  one  mouth  that  we  may  hear  twice  as  much 
as  we  speak. 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT         141 
**  For    the  wrath    of   man  worketh    not    the  Especially 

if  it  be  true 

righteousness  of  God."  This  thought  rises  natur-  wisdom, 
ally  from  the  preceding.  The  rash  and  reckless 
speech  runs  the  risk  of  wounding;  it  is  likely 
to  provoke  animosity.  Words  kindle  wrath,  as 
sparks  spread  fire.  Moreover  there  is  a  magic 
ind  binding  force  about  words.  The  word  once 
spoken  binds  the  speaker.  What  is  half  believed 
before  it  is  spoken  becomes  often  wholly  believed 
by  the  speaker  when  once  he  has  put  it  into  words. 
Obstinacy  ties  him  to  his  speech,  and  not  only 
obstinacy,  but  the  charm  and  deceptiveness  of  the 
uttered  word  invest  the  thought  with  an  air  of 
truth,  making  it  seem  real,  as  the  sketch-plan  of 
a  house  appears  to  be  a  building,  though  it  is  not 
yet  more  than  a  picture.  Thus  calmness  and 
reflectiveness  not  only  help  truth  but  check  the 
passionateness  which  hinders  good.  We  may 
compare  Christ's  distrust  of  even  well-intentioned 
zeal,  in  the  word  He  spoke  about  the  tares  in  the 
field.  The  master  would  not  let  his  eager  ser- 
vants attempt  to  gather  up  the  tares,  lest,  he  said, 
"Ye  root  up  the  wheat  also."  So  little  does  the 
indiscriminate  passion  of  man  work  the  righteous- 
ness of  God, 


142       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

It  is  well  to  note  that  St.  James  takes  it  for 
granted  that  the  Christian  aim  is  to  work  the 
righteousness  of  God.  What  this  righteousness 
is,  we  need  hardly  doubt.  It  is  that  righteousness 
which  is  greater  than  that  of  scribes  and  Pharisees 
{cf.  St.  Matt.  V.  20).  It  is  a  righteousness  which 
is  of  the  soul;  it  is  the  righteousness  which  wor- 
ships right,  and  truth ;  it  is  the  righteousness 
which  goes  deeper  than  a  punctilious  regard  for 
ceremonial,  or  even  than  a  correctness  of  outward 
living;  it  is  the  righteousness  which  so  realises 
the  righteous  order  of  the  universe  that  it  can 
resist  the  temptation  to  do  evil  that  good  may 
come,  which  seeks  good  but  only  by  right  means. 
In  it  there  must  be  a  desire  to  love  the  right, 
reverencing  it  too  highly  to  do  it  violence.  In 
other  words  there  must  be  a  disposition  which  is 
itself  harmonised  with  right.  This  leads  the 
writer  to  recall  those  qualities  which  interrupt  this 
harmony. 


"  Wherefore  putting  away  all  filthiness  and  overflowing  of 
wickedness,  receive  with  meekness  the  implanted  word,  which 
is  able  to  save  your  souls  "  (verse  21). 

The  re-  The  word  here  rendered  sickness  (icaKm)  has 

ceptiveness 
of  wisdom. 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT         143 

a  certain  elasticity  of  meaning.  It  may  be  used 
in  a  wide,  general,  and  inclusive  sense,  signifying 
that  viciousness  of  soul,  which  is  the  matrix  of 
all  kinds  of  vice.  In  this  sense  it  is  regarded  by 
Cicero,  who  would  not  translate  it  by  the  Latin 
word  vialitia,  but  used  vifiositas,  a  coinage  of  his 
own,  explaining  that  malitia  was  the  name  of  one 
special  vice,  but  viiiositas  included  all.  The  word 
therefore  has  a  tendency  towards  a  large  meaning, 
but  it  is  also  used  with  a  sense  of  the  special 
direction  of  the  vicious  disposition,  the  special 
direction  indicated  here  is  that  of  the  disposition 
to  work  harm  to  others.  The  writer  prepares  us 
for  this  in  the  previous  verse.  The  wrath  of  man 
falls  away  from  the  divine  purpose,  i.e.,  the  seek- 
ing of  the  good  of  others  ;  it  runs  towards  harm- 
fulness  ;  it  loosens  the  vicious  dispositions,  and 
turns  them  in  the  channels  of  malice.  It  is  the 
opening  of  the  flood-gates  of  that  ill  spirit  which 
runs  counter  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  fair 
play.  It  thus  is  like  the  overflowing  stream  which 
carries  down  with  it  alike  foulness  and  danger. 
Such  is  the  filthiness  and  overflowing  of  wicked- 
ness. The  remedy  against  this  unholy  activity 
of  evil  lies  in  cultivating  the  docile  and  receptive 


144       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

spirit.  We  are  told  freely  to  give,  but  it  is  only 
those  who  have  freely  received  that  can  be 
trusted  to  give  freely.  Christianity  is  the  most 
active  and  missionary  religion  :  it  teaches  us 
to  give,  to  spend,  to  diffuse  light  everywhere;  but 
it  is  also  the  religion  of  continuous  receiving.  We 
are  to  abide  in  Christ ;  His  words  are  to  abide  in 
us.  Our  hfe  is  indeed  to  be  one  of  untiring 
activity,  but  it  is  also  a  life  hid  with  Christ  in 
God.  It  is  Hke  a  tree  bringing  forth  fruit,  but  it 
does  so,  because  it  is  planted  by  the  rivers  of 
waters.  It  is  a  life  of  distributive  energy  because 
it  is  one  of  constant  receptiveness.  This  thought 
St.  James  expresses  by  saying  that  the  remedy 
for  the  ill-working  of  the  evil  is  to  be  found  in 
receiving  with  meekness  the  engrafted,  or  im- 
planted word,  which  is  able  to  save  your  souls. 
The  word  is  to  be  received,  and  turned  as  it  were 
into  a  part  of  our  own  nature.  As  food  is  turned 
into  energy  of  body,  so  is  the  word  to  be  received. 
We  recall  the  familiar  words  of  the  collect,  "  read, 
mark,  and  inwardly  digest,"  and  so  transform  into 
living  force  the  word  which  we  read.  It  is  God's 
word,  but  it  is  to  become  our  word.  It  is  the 
divine  thought  realising  itself  in  us.     It  is  to  be 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT         145 

ours  so  that  it  is  no  longer  an  alien  but  an  assimi- 
lated power  and  element,  and  yet  it  is  God's,  for 
it  is  from  Him.  Here  again  we  touch  that  paradox 
of  the  spiritual  life  which  is  a  mystery  so  simple 
that  we  may  miss  its  truth.  The  divine  thing  is 
mine,  yet  not  mine  ;  it  is  the  "  I  yet  not  I  "  of  the 
apostle.  It  is  that  divine  power  which  is  not  of 
me,  and  which  yet  can  make  me  most  truly  my- 
self; for  it  is  able  to  save  my  soul.  The  saving 
of  the  soul  is  the  bringing  it  into  the  order  of  God 
and  so  setting  it  that  it  may  grow  up  unto  God. 
The  soul  is  saved  when  it  is  rescued  to  be  what 
God  meant  it  to  be,  and  so  rescued  from  all  things 
which  hinder  its  divine  calling.  St.  Peter  speaks 
of  this  salvation  of  the  soul  as  the  end  of  faith 
(i  Pet.  i.  9).  The  soul  is  saved  when  it  gives 
itself  to  God  in  complete  confidence,  living  by 
Him,  accepting  His  way  and  receiving  Hisv/ord  ; 
for  the  soul  is  saved  when  it  is  set  free  from  the 
destructive  forces  which  sin  lets  loose  upon  it ; 
it  is  saved  when  it  surrenders  itself  to  the  divine 
order.  If  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 
by  every  word  that  proceedeth  from  the  mouth  of 
God,  then  we  can  understand  that  this  word,  im- 
planted or  engrafted,  is  powerful  to  save  the  soul. 

K 


146       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

But  be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not  hearers  onl}',  delud- 
ing your  own  selves.  For  if  any  one  is  a  hearer  of  the  word, 
and  not  a  doer,  he  is  like  unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural 
face  in  a  mirror  :  for  he  beholdeth  himself,  and  goeth  away, 
and  straightway  forgetteth  what  manner  of  man  he  was.  But 
he  that  looketh  into  the  perfect  law,  the  law  of  liberty,  and 
so  continueth,  being  not  a  hearer  that  forgetteth,  but  a 
doer  that  woi'keth,  this  man  shall  be  blessed  in  his  doing 
(ch.  i.  22-2^,. 


Be  prac- 
tical to 
avoid  self- 
deception. 


Self- 
deception 
through 
thought- 
lessness. 


The  section  is  characteristic  of  St.  James'  prac- 
tical genius.  He  has  been  counselling  the  docile 
and  receptive  attitude  of  the  soul.  There  is  an 
activity  which  he  dreads ;  it  is  the  activity  born 
of  passion  and  w^rath  ;  but  there  is  an  activity 
which  he  desires.  The  repression  of  the  active 
impulses  of  evil  must  not  be  followed  by  indo- 
lence, the  self-deceiving  indolence  which  imagines 
that  hearing  good  things  is  an  evidence  of  real 
goodness.  To  hear  is  ever  the  call  to  action. 
Therefore  be  ye  doers,  not  hearers,  deceiving 
yourselves. 

He  gives  an  illustration.  The  man  beholds  his 
face  in  a  mirror ;  he  goes  away  and  forgets  what 
he  has  seen.  The  illustration  is  of  a  man's  habit, 
not  a  woman's.  The  man  gives  a  glance  and 
goes ;  what  he  has  done  leaves  no  trace  behind  ; 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT         147 

he  knows  no  more  of  himself  than  he  did 
before.  The  word  of  God  shows  man  his  own 
image.  The  mirror  is  held  up  to  nature.  But  of 
what  use  is  this  if  man  forgets  ?  The  mirrors  of 
the  ancients  were  of  polished  metal,  of  silver  or 
of  a  mixture  of  copper  and  tin.  The  illustration, 
therefore,  of  the  reflection  seen  in  the  mirror  may 
be  used  in  two  ways.  The  reflection  was  by  no 
means  perfect  ;  the  mirror,  therefore,  sometimes 
was  used  to  represent  imperfect  knowledge.  So 
St.  Paul  (i  Cor.  xiii.  12),  who  employs  it  as  the 
later  Rabbins.  St.  James  uses  it  to  illustrate  the 
opportunity  of  knowledge  which  the  word  of  God, 
like  the  mirror,  offers.  The  illustration  carries  on 
his  thoughts.  The  opportunity  may  be  used.  A 
man  need  not  be  content  with  a  casual  careless 
glance.  He  may  look ;-  he  may  bend  over  and 
carefully  scrutinise  the  image  which  he  sees. 
The  word  is  used  of  Mary  and  John  at  the 
sepulchre  (John  xx.  5  and  n),  and  compare  also 
I  Pet.  i.  12,  "Which  things  angels  desire  to 
look  into."  Such  a  scrutiny  expresses  the  wish  to 
seize  and  appropriate  truth.  The  mirror  is  the 
perfect  law  of  liberty.  Such  is  St.  James'  descrip- 
tion of  the  word  of  God.  Even  the  psalmist  claimed 


148       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

perfection  for  the  law  of  the  Lord  (Ps.  xix.  7), 
but  the  true  perfection  of  the  word  as  a  mirror  for 
human  life  is  seen  in  Christ's  teaching  (Matt,  v.- 
vii.);  for  there,  indeed,  is  the  significance  and 
moral  value  of  human  actions  clearly  set  forth  ; 
there  also  is  the  law  of  freedom  set  forth,  for  there 
the  difference  between  conduct  enforced  by  an 
outward  law,  and  conduct  the  offspring  of  a  law 
written  within,  is  brought  into  vivid  contrast 
St.  James  in  using  the  whole  phrase  "  perfect  law 
of  liberty  "  reiterates  his  Master's  words.  '*  Except 
your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness 
of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  wise 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  (Matt.  v.  20,  cf. 
Matt.  XV.  18-20).  St.  James  while  deprecating  idle 
hearing  does  not  approve  a  formal  and  slavish 
obedience. 

The  man  who  gazes  into  the  mirror  of  truth  is 
to  be  in  downright  and  honest  earnest.  He  must 
look,  see  and  keep  on  translating  knowledge  into 
duty.  Christ  uttered  the  same  thought.  **  If  ye 
abide  in  my  word,  then  are  ye  truly  my  disciples," 
are  His  words  (Johnviii.  31,  32),  where  the  whole 
discourse  is  of  honest  earnestness  and  consequent 
spiritual  freedom.    "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT         149 

the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  The  freedom 
comes  to  the  honestly  obedient ;  it  is  freedom 
from  slavish  principles  of  action ;  it  is  freedom 
from  self-deception.  There  is  a  saying  of  Rabbi 
Chanaanah  which  has  been  well  quoted  to  illus- 
trate St.  James'  teaching  here.  There  are  two 
crowns,  one  of  hearing  and  one  of  doing.  "  Whose 
works  are  in  excess  of  his  wisdom,  his  wisdom 
stands.  Whose  wisdom  is  in  excess  of  his  works, 
his  wisdom  stands  not."  With  which  we  may 
again  compare  Christ's  profound  saying  which 
teaches  how  obedience  or  the  earnest  spirit  which 
wills  to  obey  may  be  the  revealer  of  truth.  "If 
any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of 
the  teaching  whether  it  be  of  God."  (John  vii.  17.) 
This  is  the  man  who  receives  the  benediction  of 
knowledge.  It  is  such  a  man,  earnestly  examining 
truth  and  careful  to  turn  it  into  practice,  whom 
St.  James  declares  will  be  "  blessed  in  his  doing." 
Not  observe,  in  his  deed,  but  in  his  doing.  The 
point  is  not  the  success  of  the  action  but  the 
blessing  which  comes  to  the  honest  doer,  whether 
the  special  act  is  successful  to  human  eyes  or  not. 
It  is  thus  in  keeping  of  God's  commandments 
there  is  great  reward.     The  beatitude  descends 


ISO       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

upon  the  faithful  doer;  he  gains  in  force  and 
dignity,  in  steadiness  and  nobihty  of  character. 
Thus,  as  his  Master  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
St.  James  teaches  that  the  beatitude  is  spiritual ; 
the  coherence  and  integrity  of  character  won  in 
fidelity  stand  firm  against  opposition.  Like  the 
house  in  storm  and  flood,  it  stands  the  test.  It 
fell  not,  for  it  was  founded  on  a  rock.  Herein 
the  secret  of  that  strength  of  character,  which  is 
so  universally  praised  and  yet  so  seldom  seen,  is 
unfolded.     The  Latin  poet  could  admire 

The  man  of  firm  and  righteous  will, 

No  rabble,  clamorous  for  the  wrong, 
No  tyrant's  brow  whose  frown  may  kill, 

Can  shake  the  strength  that  makes  him  strong. 

(Hor.  Odes,  Bk.  iii.  3.) 

The  source  of  such  rare  and  admirable  strength 
lies  open  in  the  Gospel. 


If  any  man  thinketh  himself  to  be  religious,  while  he 
bridleth  not  his  tongue,  but  deceiveth  his  own  heart,  this 
man's  religion  is  vain  (i.  26). 

^^^^-  Here  the  Apostle  gives  another  source  of  self- 

deception  "^  ° 

through       deception.     The  man  who  hears  (verse  22)  may 

much 

talking.       deceive  himself,  but  so  also,  and  perhaps  more 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT    151 

readily,  may  the  talker.  The  man  described  is 
the  man  who  seems  to  himself  and  possibly  also 
to  others  to  be  a  religious  man,  perhaps  by  virtue 
of  his  ready  tongue.  St.  James  is  developing  in 
an  example  his  caution,  "  Be  swift  to  hear,  slow 
to  speak."  Chatter  is  not  character  ;  words  are 
not  actions,  but  plausible  tongues  take  in  both 
speaker  and  listener.  Here  the  man  literally 
thinks  that  he  is  religious. 

The  word  here  used  alludes  to  religion  in  his 
external  aspect,  i.e.^  as  worship,  e.g.^  one  mode  of 
worship  contrasted  with  another.  The  word,  in 
fact,  expresses  the  general  form  or  ceremony  of 
worship,  the  outward  garb  of  religion,  so  to 
speak.  We  may  paraphrase,  if  any  man  thinks 
himself  to  be  a  diligent  observer  of  the  offices  of 
religion,  while  he  bridleth  not  his  tongue,  &c. 
The  image  of  the  bridle  is  used  here  by  St.  James 
and  again  in  iii.  2  ;  in  both  cases  it  is  used  in 
reference  to  the  tongue.  The  man  who  is  master 
of  his  tongue  is  master  of  himself  is  St.  James' 
thought  in  the  later  passage.  The  need  of  tongue 
mastery  rises  to  his  mind  here.  It  was  a  natural 
thought  and  image  of  the  student  of  the  Old 
Testament.     "  I  will  keep  my  mouth  as  it  were 


152       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

with  a  bridle,  while  the  ungodly  is  before  me," 
said  the  writer  of  Ps.  xxxix.  (verse  i).  The 
bridle  was  for  the  horse  and  mule  which  had  no 
understanding  (Ps.  xxxii.  9).  Man  should  bridle 
himself,  or  at  least  have  the  wisdom  to  pray  for 
God's  guardianship.  "  Set  a  watch  O  Lord 
before  my  mouth  :  keep  the  door  of  my  lips." 
(Ps.  cxli.  3.)  The  empty  talker  deceives  himself; 
his  religion  is  vain,  profitless.  Religion  should 
be  of  service ;  it  should  yield  some  real  and 
abiding  good.  According  to  the  teaching  of  Christ 
it  should  bring  advantage  to  the  world  ;  for  service 
is  the  law  of  Christ,  as  love  is  the  spirit  of  His 
law.  Hence  a  religion  which  is  content  with 
empty  talk  serves  no  true  end.  It  does  no  good 
to  man,  it  yields  no  fruit  to  God.  Profitlessness, 
we  must  remember,  is  condemnation  in  the  king- 
dom of  God.  "  Ye  did  it  not  "  is  the  accusation 
we  read  in  Matt.  xxv.  45. 

Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father  is 
this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and 
to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world  (i.  27). 

Religion  Thus  the  Way   is   prepared  for  what  follows  : 

according- 

to  Christ.     What  is  the  true  worship  of  the  Christian  ?     It 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT    153 

is  service.  To  serve  man  is  a  divine  service. 
Pure  religion  and  undefiled ;  the  two  adjectives 
are  often  found  together.  Does  one  express  the 
inward  and  the  other  the  outward  purity  ?  There 
is  a  purity  of  purpose  and  intention  as  well  as  a 
purity  of  conduct.  The  mere  chatterer,  the  shallow 
religious  talker  is  often  an  egotist,  he  is  nearly 
always  self-conscious.  Real  inward  desire  to 
render  to  God  what  is  His  does  not  show  itself 
in  noise  or  in  outward  display  of  religiousness. 
It  is  the  reverse  of  the  Pharisaic  religion  which 
imposes  on  man's  admiration,  and  of  the  Pagan 
religion  which  thinks  it  will  be  heard  for  its  much 
speaking.  The  true  religion  is  not  that  which 
satisfies  the  test  of  man's  observation  ;  it  must 
come  under  the  eye  of  God,  it  must  be  before 
God  and  the  Father — real,  sincere,  unostentatious, 
earnest  to  do  what  God's  love  desires  should  be 
done.  The  world's  verdict  is  valueless;  it  knows 
not  the  heart.  God  sees  and  knows.  Our 
religion  to  be  abiding  must  be  a  religion  in  His 
sight — real  to  meet  His  response  who  before  all 
temples  prefers  the  upright  heart  and  pure. 
What  then  are  the  tokens  of  this  real  religion  ? 
The  answer  is  service,  not  talk,  not  angry  dis- 


154       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

cussions  about  faith,  nor  controversies  about 
ritual,  but  practical,  loving  service.  It  is  to  visit. 
St.  James  uses  the  same  word  as  his  Master 
employed  (Matt.  xxv.  36,  Sick  and  ye  visited  me). 
Can  we  doubt  that  the  whole  thought  of  the 
Apostle  is  the  echo  of  Christ's  teaching  in  that 
wonderful  chapter  ?  There  our  Lord  showed 
that  that  religion  was  faulty  which  had  no  inward 
love  (Matt.  xxv.  i-i  3),  which  lost  the  opportunity 
of  using  its  gifts  for  good  (14-30),  and  which  failed 
to  show  the  common  kindliness  of  life  (31-46). 

Of  the  common  kindlinesses  of  life,  St.  James 
selects  the  care  of  the  fatherless  and  widow. 
This  is  in  harmony  with  the  precepts  of  the  law. 
In  Deut.  xxvii.  19  a  curse  is  declared  against 
those  who  trouble  the  widow  and  fatherless. 
Our  Lord  denounced  the  Pharisees,  because  they 
devoured  widows'  houses  (Luke  xx.  47).  These 
unprotected  ones  were  believed  to  be  under 
God's  special  care  ;  for  He  was  the  Father  of  the 
fatherless  and  judge  of  the  widow  (Ps.  Ixviii.  5). 
The  outflow  of  the  godlike  spirit  would  go  in  the 
direction  of  kindness,  and  on  behalf  of  those  who 
specially  needed  help.  The  second  feature  of 
real    religion    is   personal    stainlessness.     To  be 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT    155 

unspotted  from  the  world  is  not  to  retire  from  its 
duties,  its  pursuits  or  even  its  joys;  it  is  to  enter 
into  these  with  an  unworldly  spirit.  Worldliness, 
as  St.  John  tells  us,  lies  not  in  things  but  in  the 
spirit  with  which  things  are  approached.  It  is 
not  the  eye,  the  flesh,  the  life  that  are  wrong;  it 
is  the  lust  of  the  eye,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
pride  of  life  (i.  John  ii.  16).  These  are  not  of 
the  Father.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  friendship 
of  the  world  makes  alienation  from  God,  as  St. 
James  says  later  on  (iv.  4).  If  his  heart  is  tuned 
by  heaven,  a  man  may  pass  untainted  through 
the  world,  the  things  which  harm  others  will  not 
harm  him  (St.  Mark  xvi.  17,  18).  Pure  religion 
is  a  thing  of  the  spirit ;  it  is  the  spirit  which  loves 
noble,  pure,  and  kindly  things.  It  is  the  spirit 
which  was  seen  in  Christ  and  which  He  still 
confers  on  His  chosen. 


CHAPTER  V 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  AND  SELF-RESPECT 


General 
drift  of 
passage. 


Ch.  ii.  1-13 

If  character  is  more  than  circumstances — if  the 
real  significance  of  life  is  to  be  found  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  moral  capacities  of  our  nature, 
then  the  possession  of  more  or  less  of  this  world's 
riches  is  in  itself  a  matter  of  no  moment.  Riches 
or  poverty,  like  all  other  circumstances,  may  be 
used  as  agents  in  man's  moral  discipline,  but  of 
themselves  they  have  no  real  value,  any  more 
than  a  graving  tool  has  artistic  merit  ;  their 
value,  like  that  of  the  graving  tool,  lies  in  the 
use  to  which  they  can  be  put.  The  mere 
possession  of  riches  does  not  give  a  man  any 
right  or  title  to  esteem  :  the  lack  of  them  offers 
no  ground  for  contempt.  There  are  only  three 
grounds  of  respect  which  are  legitimate — man- 
hood, moral  worth,  and  responsible  office.  Faith 
recognises  these,  and  recognises  no  other.     Those 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  157 

who  have  this  faith  will,  therefore,  show  no 
fawning  or  servile  attitude  towards  riches,  no 
contemptuous  disregard  of  the  poor.  Such  a 
respect  of  persons  is  at  variance  with  the  postu- 
lates of  enlightened  faith. 

"  My  brethren,  hold  not  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
[the  Lord]  of  glory  with  respect  of  persons." — Ch.  ii,  i. 

Another  suggested  rendering  puts  the  sentence  Against 

respect  of 

in  the  form  of  a  question — "  My  brethren,  do  ye  persons, 
in  accepting  persons,  hold  the  faith  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  [the  Lord]  of  glory."  This  form  gives 
incisiveness  to  the  expression  of  the  thought,  but 
the  thought  is  in  any  case  quite  clear.  "You 
are  those  who  have  identified  yourselves,  in 
thought,  spirit,  and  life,  with  the  faith  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  You  are  sharers  of  His  per- 
ception of  the  true  proportion  of  things.  You 
recognise  His  glory,  which  was  not  a  glory  of 
this  world's  riches ;  for  He  had  not  where  to  lay 
His  head.  As  those,  therefore,  who  realise 
wherein  true  glory  consists,  be  not  foolish  and 
attempt  to  reconcile  the  irreconcilable :  ye  cannot 
serve  God  and  mammon  :  ye  cannot  hold  the  faith 


True 

grounds  of 
respect. 


15S       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

/of  Christ  when  you  show  by  your  actions  that  it 
is  mammon  that  you  really  worship. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  picture  which 
St.  James  gives  is  of  a  man  who  is  simply  a  rich 
man.  There  are,  as  I  have  said,  three  grounds 
which  justify  our  respect  to  our  fellow  men.  We 
should  respect  manhood  in  all — seeing  that  man 
is  God's  offspring,  made  in  His  image,  capable  of 
His  likeness,  and  a  sharer  with  ourselves  in  the 
drama  of  existence.  In  such  respect  all,  whether 
rich  or  poor,  should  share  our  respect.  We 
should  respect  moral  worth  in  man,  because 
wherever  this  exists  man  is  helping  forward  his 
brother  man.  We  should  respect  responsible 
office  and  position  in  man,  because  wherever  such 
is  held  the  man  is  clearly  set  apart  of  God's 
providence  to  be  a  helper  and  a  servant  of  his 
fellows.  If  the  rich  man  possessed  moral  worth, 
he  might  be  honoured  for  his  character  but  not 
for  his  wealth.  If  he  held  responsible  position, 
he  might  be  respected  for  his  office.  This  is  the 
true  Christian  law  of  respect.  Manhood  is  to  be 
respected.  Honour  all  men.  Moral  worth  is  to 
be  respected.  "  Hold  such  in  honour,"  said  St. 
Paul  of  Epaphroditus,  whom  he  described  as  a 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  159 

fellow  worker  and  fellow  soldier,  who  "  for  the 
work  of  Christ  came  nigh  unto  death  "  (Phil.  ii. 
25-30).  Similarly,  he  bade  the  Thessalonians  to 
respect  the  loyal  and  whole-hearted  labourers 
among  them,  and  "  to  esteem  them  exceeding 
highly  in  love  for  their  work's  sake"  (i  Thess. 
V.  12,  13).  Responsible  office  is  to  be  respected. 
The  civil  magistrate  and  the  church  officer  are  to  be 
honoured  as  ministers  of  God's  service  (Rom.  xiii. 
1-7;  I  Thess.  v.  12).  But  mere  riches  confer 
no  title  to  respect. 

Hence  we  can  understand  St.  James'  caution.  The  kind  of 

T  T     1       1  •       11  'T^i  •   1  •  respect  to 

He  had  noticed  the  scene.  Ihe  rich  man  coming  be  avoided. 
into  the  Christian  assembly,  sumptuous,  pompous, 
expecting  and  exacting  attention  ;  his  gold  ring 
glittering  on  his  finger ;  the  evidence  of  his 
wealth  ostentatiously  striking  the  eye.  He  had 
seen  the  wordless  adulation  of  the  eager  and 
hurrying  church  officials  who  rushed  forward  to 
conduct  him  to  a  conspicuous  seat.  The  scene 
jarred  upon  his  Christian  sense  of  proportion ;  it 
seemed  to  him  to  betray  a  lack  of  appreciation  of 
the  true  grounds  of  respect  ;  and  the  more  so 
from  the  contrast  which  the  treatment  of  the  poor 
man  afforded.     The  man  in  vile  raiment  comes  in. 


Its  incon- 
sistency 
with 

Christian 
ideas. 


1 60       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

For  him  any  place  is  good  enough.  He  may 
stand,  or  if  he  sits  at  all,  it  can  be  at  some  official's 
footstool—*'  Stand  thou  there,  or  sit  under  my 
footstool." 

We  need  only  to  contrast  the  spirit  here  dis- 
played in  this  scene  with  the  spirit  which  arises 
from  the  Christian  recognition  of  the  essential 
facts  of  life.  What  is  it  that  constitutes  the 
glory  of  life  ?  What  are  the  things  which  ought 
to  provoke  our  homage  ?  As  a  Christian  man, 
St.  James  starts  from  the  common  ground  of 
brotherhood — "  My  brethren,"  he  says.  In  his 
address  he  appeals  to  what  Christ  had  sanctioned 
and  sanctified — "  All  ye  are  brethren."  This 
bond  in  itself  is  so  great  and  significant  that 
minor  distinctions  go  down  before  it.  From  this 
follows  that  great  law  of  service,  the  fulfilment  of 
which  is,  as  Christ  declared,  the  way  of  greatness. 
Christ,  who  was  the  Lord  of  Glory,  had  not  where 
to  lay  his  head,  but  His  glory  remained  un- 
dimmed ;  it  rested  not  in  circumstances  but  in 
Himself.  Where  he  was  the  true  Shekinah 
dwelt.  Nay,  He  was,  in  the  fulness  of  loving 
service,  the  true  Shekinah  :  we  may  compare  the 
words  of  Simeon  ben  Jochai  who  speaks  of  "  the 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  i6i 

Lord  of  the  Serving  Angels,  the  Shekinah."    The 
world  indeed  saw  no  beauty  that  it  should  desire 
Him  ;    the    reason  being  that    they   looked  for 
glory  of  another   sort — the  vulgar  glory  which 
startles  and  dazzles,  the  glory  of  the  gold  ring 
and  splendid  apparel — not  the  glory  of  fellowship, 
service,  and  love.     The  men  whose  souls  were 
fed  with  covetousness  could  only  deride  (Luke  xvi. 
14)  the  spiritual  glory  of  Him  who  came  '*  not  to 
be    ministered    unto,    but    to    minister,"     Some 
glimpse  of  the   higher  glory  was    given  to  the 
disciples  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  ;  then 
there  diffused  itself  into  revealing  light  the  glory 
which  at  other  times  was  veiled  in  the  life   of 
service.     If  such  was  His  glory,  how  incongruous 
in  a  Christian    assembly    was    the    respect    of 
persons  described  by  St.  James.     "  Have  not," 
says   St.  James,    "  the  faith    of  our  Lord    with 
respect  of  persons."     The  faith  here,  though  in- 
cluding   Christian    conceptions,    is    mainly    the 
ethical  spirit  which  has  apprehended  and  appro- 
priated the  principles  of  Christ.     It  is  a  question 
of  inconsistency;    there   is   a   line    of    conduct 
which   is   radically  incompatible  with    Christian 
ideas. 

L 


1 62       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Verges  2-4.  For  if  there  come  into  your  synagogue  (or 
assembly)  a  man  with  a  gold  ring,  in  fine  clothing,  and  there 
come  in  also  a  poor  man  in  vile  clothing ;  and  ye  have  regard 
to  him  that  weareth  the  fine  clothing,  and  say.  Sit  thou  here 
in  a  good  place ;  and  ye  say  to  the  poor  man.  Stand  thou 
there,  or  sit  under  my  footstool ;  are  ye  not  divided  in  your 
own  mind,  and  become  judges  with  evil  thoughts? 

Thejudg-  It  has  been  questioned  whether  the  synagogue 

inspired  by  o^  assembly  is  the  Jewish  synagogue,  or  a 
woridii-  specially  Christian  assembly.  The  Christians,  as 
we  know,  frequented  the  Jewish  synagogue  :  there 
the  first  witness  of  Christ  was  given.  In  Antioch 
of  Pisidia  St.  Paul  preached  in  the  synagogue  on 
the  invitation  of  the  synagogue  rulers  (Acts  xiii. 
14,  15).  But  the  probability  is  that  the  assembly 
here  mentioned  is  the  Christian  assembly.  At 
any  rate,  St.  James  gives  directions  as  though  the 
Christians  to  whom  he  wrote  had  power  to  alter 
the  evil  practice.  In  the  Christian  assembly  such 
-^  -servile  partiality  to  the  rich  should  not  be  shown. 
;/  His  objection,  moreover,  is  based  on  a  clear 
view  of  what  human  character  ought  to  be.  There 
are  lines  of  conduct  which  show  instability  of 
character,  lack  of  a  central  governing  principle. 
In  showing  deference  to  the  accidents  of  life 
rather  than  to  its  essentials  men  exhibit  a  divided 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  163 

mind  :    there  is  lack  of  that  single-mindedness 
which  makes  integrity.     Compare  St.  James'  con- 
tempt  for  the  double-minded   (ch.  i.  8):   insta- 
bility of  character  is  its  accompaniment.  Further, 
where  this  instability  exists,  the  power  of  clear 
judgment    is    impaired.     Such   was   our   Lord's; 
declaration:  the   singleness  of  purpose  brought' 
light.     (Matt.  vi.   22-24.)     Such    is    St.  James'' 
view :  the  double-hearted  man  becomes  a  judge 
with  evil  thoughts,  his  power  of  discerning  truth 
is  weakened,  his  brain  is  confused  through  the 
divided  allegiance  of  his  heart. 

It  is  worth  noting  how  the  effects  of  a  wrongly 
centred  spirit  spread  through  the  whole  nature. 
Where  the  heart-principles  are  wrong  all  else  is 
likely  to  go  wrong  also.  This  is  the  reason  why 
Christ  and  His  Apostles  insist  upon  the  import- 
ance of  a  truly  centralised  nature.  All  will  come 
right  if  the  heart  be  right.  If  this  be  not  right, 
little  else  is  likely  to  be.  Little  things,  moreover, 
show  much ;  and  character  shows  itself  in  the 
smallest  things.  "All  things  exist  in  the  man," 
says  Emerson,  "  tinged  with  the  manners  of  his 
soul.  With  what  quality  is  in  him,  he  infuses  all 
nature  that  he  can  reach."     Where  the  character 


i64       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

is  a  God-centred  one  there  character  is,  to  use 
again  Emerson's  words,  with  a  difference,  "  the 
moral  order  seen  through  the  medium  of  an  in- 
dividual nature." 


Verses  5-10.  Hearken  my  beloved  brethren  ;  did  not  God 
choose  them  that  are  poor  as  to  the  world  to  be  rich  in  faith, 
and  heirs  of  the  kingdom  which  He  promised  to  them  that 
love  him  ?     But  ye  have  dishonoured  the  poor  man. 

Do  not  the  rich  oppress  you,  and  themselves  drag  you 
before  the  judgment  seats  ? 

Do  not  they  blaspheme  the  honourable  name  by  the  which 
ye  are  called  ? 

Howbeit  if  ye  fulfil  the  royal  law,  according  to  the  scripture, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,  ye  do  well ;  but  if 
ye  have  respect  of  persons,  ye  commit  sin,  being  convicted  by 
the  law  as  transgressors. 

The  royal         The  Writer  makes  a  strong  appeal,  based  upon 

law  applies  ,  1  t  t  1 

to  all.  ^  very  natural  sympathy.     He  commences  the 

appeal  by  again  using  the  title  "  brethren,"  for  it  is 
a  natural  brotherly  sympathy  which  he  seeks  to 
arouse.  He  reminds  them  that  there  is  a  special 
message  and  unique  tenderness  for  the  poor  in 
the  Gospel.  To  neglect  or  to  despise  the  poor  is 
to  miss  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Whatever  view 
we  may  take  of  the  social  teaching  of  Christ,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that   His  heart  went  out  with 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  165 

special  sympathy  towards  those  who  were  placed 
at  a  disadvantage  in  life.  He  longed  to  convey 
to  such  the  assurance  of  the  Father's  love,  and  to 
fill  the  hearts  of  the  sad  with  hope.  "  To  the 
poor  is  the  Gospel  preached."  Further,  He 
regarded  the  poor  as  possessing  at  least  the 
advantage  of  greater  spiritual  responsiveness  than 
the  rich.  "  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have 
riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  "  It  is  in 
this  sense  that  "  God  chose  the  poor  in  this  world 
to  be  rich  in  faith."  Notice  the  hint  of  the 
reversal  of  the  world's  judgment.  There  are 
some  whom  the  world  calls  poor  whom  yet  God 
may  deem  rich.  The  Gospel  brought  into  use 
the  light  of  a  judgment  which  is  very  different 
from  the  judgment  of  the  world.  Since  such  light 
came,  life  and  the  meaning  of  life  are  better  under- 
stood. 

Thus  for  us  the  aspect  of   things  is  altered.  The  royal 
For  example,  the  world  looks  upon  things  seen,  "^I'^il 
deeming  these  the  most  enduring  (2  Cor.  iv.  18): 
Christ   reverses   this    and    is  right.     The  world     j' 
places  wisdom  in  the  intellect :  Christ  places  it  in     1 
the  moral  nature  (i  Cor.  i.  27;  iii.  19;  Matt.  xi. 
25  ;  James  iii.  17).     The  world  places  wealth  in 


i66       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

material  possessions :  Christ  places  it  in  spiritual 
capacity  (2  Cor.  viii.  9;  i  Cor.  iii.21-23;  Eph.i.  18). 
So  here  the  poor  may  be  in  a  nobler  sense  rich, 
being  rich  in  faith :  such  look  forward  to  an 
ampler  and  more  splendid  inheritance  than  the 
world  can  give ;  they  are  "  heirs  of  the  kingdom 
which  God  hath  promised  to  them  that  love  Him." 
This  heirship  follows  kinship  or  sonship.  Where 
there  is  spiritual  affinity  there  will  be  a  spiritual 
inheritance.  To  share  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  to 
share  His  kingdom,  His  throne.  The  first  feature 
of  this  sonship  is  a  kind  of  poverty.  It  is  the 
sense  of  one's  having  nothing  and  being  nothing  ; 
as  Christ  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took 
upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant,  so  does  the 
Christ-like  man  cease  from  self,  become  poor  as 
having  nothing  of  his  own.  This  perhaps  suggests 
the  reason  why  the  poor  in  this  world  are  spoken 
of  as  rich  in  faith.  Their  power  of  realising  the 
sense  of  personal  emptiness  is  perhaps  readier 
than  that  of  the  rich  man. 

These  poor  to  whom  Christ  opened  so  wide 
the  gate  of  the  Kingdom  are  those  whom,  ac- 
cording to  St.  James,  Christian  people  have 
despised.     Their  richness  in  faith,  their  kinship 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  167 

of  the  Kingdom,  is  recognised  in  the  Christian 
society ;  and  yet,  says  the  Apostle,  "  ye  have 
dishonoured  the  poor  man." 

The  spiritual  opportunities  of  the  poor  having  The 

,  ,       ,  r^        T  ^        J.      oppressions 

been    touched   upon,   bt.  James,  as  a   contrast,   of  the  rich. 
describes  the  action  of  the  rich. 

"  The  rich  drag  you  to  the  judgment  seat, 
and  blaspheme  the  honourable  name  by  which 
the  Christians  were  called." 

He  accuses  the  rich  of  oppression.  To  whom 
does  he  refer  ?  Does  he  mean  the  rich  and 
powerful  who  used  their  place  and  wealth  to 
persecute  the  Christians  who  were  for  the  most 
part  poor  ?  Or  does  he  mean  that  Christian  men 
possessed  of  wealth  sometimes  acted  harshly 
and  unjustly  by  the  poor?  The  reference  later 
on  (ch.  V.  1-6)  to  the  injustices  from  which  the 
poor  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  rich  leads  us  to 
think  that  St.  James  has  in  mind,  simply  without 
thought  of  need,  the  oppressions  practised  by  the 
rich.  He  is  thinking  of  the  legalised  exactions 
and  inconsiderate  conduct  of  wealthy  men.  Pro- 
bably however,  at  the  time,  issues  were  confused, 
and  accusations  against  a  man's  faith  might  be 
used  to  gain  some  material  and  financial  advan- 


The  divine 
law  the 
safe  one. 


1 68       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

tage  over  him.  The  flash  of  indignation  which 
lights  up  the  Apostle's  utterance  is  due  to  what 
he  had  seen  and  heard.  The  world,  and  the 
powers  of  the  world,  its  wealth  and  its  authority, 
must  have  appeared  to  Christian  people  as  forces 
united  against  them.  The  struggle  between  the 
faith  of  Christ  and  the  power  of  the  world  seemed 
unequal ;  it  was  not  always  fairly  carried  on : 
issues  were  confused  at  times  :  personal  animosity 
and  personal  greed  may  frequently  have  combined 
with  bigoted  hatred  of  the  new  faith.  Further, 
the  rich  having  more  to  lose  may  have  been 
the  first  to  apostatise  in  times  of  persecution. 
Speaking  generally  the  Christian  society  had  more 
to  fear  than  to  hope  for  from  the  rich.  Many 
blasphemed  the  honourable  name,  i.e.,  the  name 
of  Christ,  either  by  persecution,  or  by  apostasy, 
or  by  their  inconsistent  and  oppressive  conduct 
{cf.  Rom.  ii.  24;  2  Pet.  ii.  2  ;  i  Tim.  vi.  i,  and 
Titus  i.  16). 

Verses  8-10.     Howbeit   if  ye  fulfil  the  royal  law,  accord- 
ing to  the  scripture,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself, 
ye  do  well  ;  but  if  ye  have  respect  of  persons,  ye  commit 
in,  being  convicted  by  the  law  as  transgressors. 

From    the    strain    of    indignation,    St.  James 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  169 

passes  to  that  tone  of  quiet  and  temperate  judg- 
ment which  is  his  wont.     It  is  illustrative  of  the 
true  balance  of  his  mind  that  he  recovers  himself 
so  easily,  and  adopts  a  calm  impartiality  of  tone. 
He  has  expressed  himself  in  hot  wrath  against 
the  men  who  misused  their  position  and  riches ; 
but  though  he  can  be  indignant  against  the  rich,  a 
man  is  not  to  be  hated  or  treated  with  disrespect 
merely  because  he  is  rich.     The  very  principle 
which  declares    the  man  to   be  more  than  his 
circumstances  should  lead  us  to  ignore  alike  the 
riches  and  the  poverty  of  men  in  our  demeanour 
towards  them,  seeing  that  respect  is  due  to  all. 
The  royal  law  says  love  is  due  to  all.     If  this  is 
the  principle  which  leads  men  to  show  respect  to 
rich  as  well  as  to  poor,  it  is  well.    If  it  be  a  servile 
admiration  of  riches,  apart  from   manhood  and 
apart  from  character,  it  is  ill :  it  is  worse  than  ill, 
it   is  sin ;    and  those  who  are  guilty  of  it  are 
convicted  by  the  law — the  law  of  brotherly  love 
which  claims    respect  for  all — as  transgressors. 
This  law,  this  royal  law,  stands  ever  at  our  side  : 
it  watches  and  judges  our  actions.      It  acts  as 
accuser  and  judge.      It   convicts    us    of  wrong- 
doing when,  from  a  cringing  and  selfish   spirit, 


lyo       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

we  show  respect  of  persons,  thus  lowering  the 
love  we  ought  to  have  for  the  needy.  Its  clear, 
level  standard,  "  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself," 
at  such  times,  marks  us  out  as  transgressors. 

The  law  of         Verses  lo-i 3.     For  whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law, 
liberty  as       g^j^^  y^j.  gtyn^big  jn  one  point,  he  is  become  guilty  of  all. 
applied.  ^^°^  ^®  '•^''•'-  said,  Do  not  commit  adultery,  said  also,  Do 

not  kill.  Now  if  thou  dost  not  commit  adultery,  but  killest, 
thou  art  become  a  transgressor  of  the  law.  So  speak  ye,  and 
so  do,  as  men  that  are  to  be  judged  by  a  law  of  liberty.  For 
judgment  is  without  mercy  to  him  that  hath  shewed  no  mercy  ; 
mercy  glorieth  against  judgment. 

Violation  of       To  be  guilty  in  one  point  is  to  be  guilty  of  all. 

principle  is 

breach  of      It   souuds   harsh   and  strained;    but  it  becomes 

code. 

clear  and  inevitable  when  we  realise  the  unity  of 
law.  Divine  law  is  not  a  series  of  isolated  enact- 
ments ;  it  is  the  concrete  expression  of  a  certain 
spirit.  Human  law  is  built  up  of  experiences 
and  difficulties  ;  one  part  may  be  without  relation 
to  another ;  yet  even  human  law  by  degrees 
assumes  a  kind  of  organic  unity.  Divine  law  from 
the  first  possesses  this  unity;  since  it  is  not 
formed  out  of  precedents,  but  is  the  application 
of  a  great  principle  to  life.  If  we  remember  that 
our  Lord  reduced  all   laws  to  one  law,  we  shall 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  171 

realise  how  guilt  in  one  point  is  guilt  in  all.  To 
commit  adultery  is  to  violate  not  simply  the 
seventh  commandment,  it  is  to  break  the  principle 
which  underlies  the  whole  ten ;  it  is  a  violation 
of  the  law  of  love ;  every  breach  of  any  com- 
mandment is  such  a  violation.  The  man  who 
pricks  a  balloon  only  damages  one  segment  of 
silk,  but  he  causes  the  fall  of  the  whole  balloon. 
So  each  disregard  of  a  commandment  evidences  a 
spirit  out  of  harmony  with  the  spirit  with  which 
all  law  is  filled. 

This  feeling  that  there  is  a  great  underlying 
principle  of  life,  by  which  man  should  be  ani- 
mated, finds  expression  elsewhere.  St.  Paul  calls 
the  principle  faith,  and  consequently  tells  us  that 
"  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin"  (Rom.  xiv.  23). 
If  a  man  does  all,  but  omits  one,  said  Rabbi 
Jochanan,  he  is  guilty  of  all.  The  same  thought 
has  place  in  the  Stoic  idea  that  virtue  was  the  art 
of  life,  all  virtues  being  equal. 

St.  James,  moreover,  carries  the  thought  beyond   Contra- 
that  of  law  considered  as  an  organic  whole,  or  the  divine 
mere  embodiment  of  some  principle,     tie  takes  '^'^^''^cter. 
the  law  back   to  the  lawgiver.     The  law  is  the 
expression  of  God's  will.     "He  that  said,  do  not 


172       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

commit  adultery,  said  also,  do  not  kill."  The 
violation  of  law  shows  lack  of  harmony  with  the 
mind  of  the  law-giver.  The  moral  law  is  the 
expression  of  the  divine  nature.  Its  essential 
principle  is  love,  for  God  is  love.  The  command- 
ments are  like  broken  lights  of  the  one  central 
beam,  which  is  love.  To  sin  is  therefore  not 
■  merely  to  break  one  commandment ;  it  is  to  act 
;out  of  harmony  with  God.  We  bring  ourselves 
by  sin  into  variance  with  the  original  order  of 
things,  with  God  Himself,  Life  is  the  realisation 
of  a  great  unity.  To  be  outside  the  unity  of 
nature  is  to  be  outside  the  true  life.  One  wrong- 
is  therefore  all  wrong.  The  one  wrong  makes  us 
transgressors  ;  those  who  sin  have  crossed  the 
sacred  line  which  separates  concord  from  discord, 
as  one  false  note  breaks  all  harmony. 

Hence  the  apostle  appeals  to  Christ's  people 
to  act  as  though  they  realised  the  great  and  pre- 
valent law  of  life.  "  So  speak  ye  and  so  do 
as  men  that  are  to  be  judged  by  the  law  of 
liberty." 

Law  in  one  aspect  appears  as  a  restraint  upon 
liberty ;  it  restricts  freedom  of  action.  This  is 
its  aspect  when  men  regard  their  life  as  outside 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  173 

all  order ;  but  if  life's  highest  fulfilment  be  con- 
tinuous activity  in  harmony  with  the  order  of 
our  being,  then  the  law  which  sets  forth  that 
harmony  is  the  law  of  liberty,  not  of  bondage. 
When  law  is  regarded  as  a  series  of  command- 
ments, and  so  of  negations  of  desire,  law  then 
seems  to  hamper,  but  when  law  is  felt  to  be  the 
i,  very  expression  of  what  our  nature  requires  and 
desires,  then  it  is  the  very  avenue  of  liberty.^ 
The  realisation  of  the  need  of  harmony  between 
ourselves  and  the  whole  order  of  things,  or  rather 
between  ourselves  and  the  God  of  order,  sets  law 
in  a  different  light ;  it  then  unfolds  to  us  outlines 
of  the  ideal,  because  we  see  not  the  dry  code  but 
the  spirit  of  which  the  commandments  are  but 
examples.  Then  we  cannot  bear  to  be  out  of 
harmony  with  that  spirit ;  the  principles  enshrined 
in  law  are  dear  to  us  and  sacred.  We  are  free 
men  desiring  for  ourselves  what  is  noblest  and 
best.  Thus  should  we  speak  and  act  as  those 
who  know  the  judgment  of  this  law  of  liberty, 
and  who  therefore  feel  every  deviation  from  the 
law  of  love  as  a  missing  of  the  ideal,  a  failure  in 
life's  aim,  a  wrong  against  Him  who  gave  us  life 
and  the  capacity  of  love  and  service.     The  royal 


174       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

law  is  the  law  of  love,  and  therefore  also  is  it  the 
law  of  liberty.  Its  code  of  honour  is  more 
exquisite  than  a  mere  legalist  can  understand  ; 
its  demands  are  deeper  and  its  judgments  severer, 
because  love  which  is  the  tenderest  of  passions 
is  the  sternest  also,  even  as  God  who  is  love  is 
also  a  consuming  fire. 
Puts  man  Thc  thought  of  the  severity  thus  rises  in  St. 

outside  the  ,        .      ,         t,  t      i  •  •  i 

realm  of       Jamcs    mind.      '  Judgment  is  without  mercy  to 
°^^'  him    that   hath    showed   no   mercy."     We  think 

of  the  parable  of  the  unforgiving  servant  (Matt, 
xviii.  21-35);  we  recall  the  condemnation  of  the 
last  day  which  is  ever  against  those  who  put  love 
;  far  from  their  hearts  (Matt.  xxv.  32-35).  Those 
who  so  act  have  forgotten  the  source  of  their 
being,  the  Father  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh.  Sons 
act  in  the  spirit  of  their  Father.  Mercy  glorieth 
over  judgment,  because  it  is  akin  to  the  earlier 
law  of  love.  Those  who  understand  this  are  hard 
on  themselves  and  gentle  in  their  judgments  upon 
others.  They  realise  the  failures  of  their  own 
spirit,  its  deviations  from  the  loving  temper : 
therefore  they  are  hard  on  themselves,  judging 
themselves  by  what  love  would  do  and  require. 
For  the  same  reason  they  are    tender  towards 


RESPECT  OF  PERSONS  lys 

others — not  judging  by  the  letter,  but  hoping  all 
things  in  the  spirit  of  love. 

The  application  of  this  to  the  question  of 
respect  of  persons  is  clear.  The  Christian  man 
judges  himself  by  a  severe  test ;  he  would  hate  to 
find  himself  governed  by  a  lower  spirit  than  that 
of  love,  and  therefore  would  he  hate  to  find  him- 
self acting  under  worldly  or  vulgarly  servile 
motives.  Love  would  take  all  men  to  its  em- 
brace, heedless  of  the  ring  or  of  the  vile  raiment. 
To  find  oneself  the  slave  of  the  earthly  shadows 
of  wealth,  or  contemptuous  of  any  whom  God  has 
made,  would  be  to  discover  reasons  of  self- 
abhorrence.  For  in  the  loving  soul  a  large  piti- 
fulness  should  ever  dwell,  and  the  weaker  and 
more  miserable  a  man  is,  the  dearer  should  he  be 
to  the  heart  which  knows  the  love  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FAITH    AND   WORKS 

Ch.  ii.  14.  What  doth  it  profit,  my  brethren,  if  a  man  say 
that  he  hath  faith,  but  have  not  works  ?  Can  that  faith  save 
him  ? 

Summary.  We  havc  to  recall  the  principles  which  St.  James 
has  developed  in  the  course  of  his  letter,  if  we 
would  rightly  grasp  the  meaning  of  the  present 
passage.  Superficially  considered,  St.  James' 
teaching  has  been  thought  to  contradict  St.  Paul's. 

//  St.  Paul  is  the  ardent  advocate  of  faith  ;  works,  he 

says,  are  nothing  :  the  disposition  of  the  soul  is 
everything.  St.  James  advocates  action  and  con- 
duct :  sentiment  or  otiose  assent  is  nothing.  But 
St.  Paul  and  St,  James  are  one  in  their  view  that 
the  Christ-born  soul  should  show  to  men  the 
exemplar  spirit.  St.  James  regards  such  souls  as 
those  called  to  exhibit  the  true  type  of  humanity  to 
men  :  they  should  be  "  a  kind  of  first-fruits  of  His 


FAITH  AND  WORKS  177 

creatures"  (ch.  i.  18).  St.  Paul  does  not  speak 
differently  :  the  Christian  man  is  the  man  in  whom 
the  Spirit  of  God  dwells  :  such  seek  to  fulfil  the  life 
of  the  exemplar :  they  walk  not  after  the  flesh  but 
after  the  spirit  (Rom.  viii.  4-9).  Such  spirits 
would  feel  that  a  violation  of  the  law  of  love  would 
be  out  of  harmony  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ ;  they 
would  test  themselves  not  by  their  actions  merely 
but  by  the  spirit  which  the  actions  disclosed.  The 
ultimate  test  is  not  the  deed  but  the  spirit  of  the 
deed.  In  this  St.  James  agrees  :  it  is  the  servile 
spirit  shown  to  the  rich  man  in  the  Christian 
assembly  which  he  rebukes.  He  acknowledges 
that  love  and  kindness  are  due  to  all,  be  they  rich 
or  poor.  But  in  his  strong,  free  way  he  hates  un- 
reality ;  he  hates  the  deference  which  is  not  the 
genuine  self-respecting  deference  of  man  to  man, 
but  the  self-interested  deference  of  the  snobbish 
nature  which  in  its  soul  worships  wealth  ;  he  hates 
lack  of  genuineness  in  such  matters.  He  hates, 
equally,  the  unreality  which  is  content  with  an 
indolently  acquiescent  creed — the  faith  which  is  not 
incorporated  into  the  heart  and  the  life,  which  is 
outside  the  man,  and  therefore  inoperative  in  the 
life  of  the  man.     The  true  man  of  Christ  grasps 

M 


178      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

the  heart  of  things  :  external  circumstances  are 
of  no  moment :  the  man  and  the  character  of  the 
man  are  everything.  All  men  should  be  treated 
according  to  the  law  of  love  (verse  15).  Religion, 
if  real,  cannot  dwindle  into  a  mere  sentiment  or  an 
opinion.  It  is  a  conviction  of  the  true  order  of 
life,  a  belief  in  it,  and  a  love  of  it.  Hence  religion 
can  no  more  be  divorced  from  life  than  the  breath 
from  breathing,  the  blood  from  its  flowing,  the 
heart  from  its  beating.  The  heart  beats  because 
it  is  a  heart.  That  is  its  function.  So  faith  is  a 
living  power  of  the  soul  (verse  17).  It  is  seen  in 
the  way  a  man  acts  :  faith  is  such  a  heart-grasp 
upon  the  divine  nature  as  implies  sympathy  with 
the  divine  nature.  It  will  go  out,  as  God's  nature 
does,  in  beneficence  and  love  (verses  15-17).  It 
must  do  so,  as  light  streams  from  the  sun,  and  as 
the  waves  of  the  ocean  beat  upon  the  shore.  It  is 
thus  a  self-revealing  power.  Like  love,  it  cannot 
be  hid  (verses  17-20).  The  history  of  faith  ex- 
hibits this,  as  the  stories  of  Abraham  and  Rahab 
show  (verses  20-26). 


FAITH  AND  WORKS  179 

Ch.  ii.  15-17.  H  a  brother  or  sister  be  naked,  and  in  lack 
of  daily  food,  and  one  of  you  say  unto  them,  Go  in  peace,  be 
ye  warmed  and  filled ;  and  yet  ye  give  them  not  the  things 
needful  to  the  body  ;  what  doth  it  profit  ?  Even  so  faith,  if 
it  have  not  works,  is  dead  in  itself. 


The  apostle  carries  his  argument  into  illustra-  Faith  a 

TT-  ..i-i        r-.>  ••  moral  force. 

tion.  His  principle  is  that  faith  is  an  active  power. 
He  had  asked  what  was  the  use  of  a  man  talking 
about  his  faith,  if  it  never  came  forth  into  action. 
Like  Shakespeare,  he  would  say, 

If  our  virtues  go  not  out  with  us, 

'Twere  all  as  one  as  though  we  had  them  not. 

This  is  the  appeal  to  the  practical  judgment ; 
thereupon  he  pressed  the  question  farther.  A  faith 
which  does  not  show  itself  in  action  is  useless  to 
mankind.  It  is  useless  also  to  the  possessor,  A 
man  may  have  such  a  barren  faith,  but  can  that 
faith  save  him  ?  or,  we  may  put  it,  can  faith  of  that 
kind  save  him,  a  man  of  that  sort  ? 

From  this  the  argument  passes  into  illustration. 
He  pictures  the  brother  or  sister  naked  or  desti- 
tute :  he  pictures  them  met  with  good  wishes  but 
given  no  help.  What  good  is  there  in  good 
wishes  ?  Like  good  intentions,  they  do  not  pave 
the  road  to  heaven.     The  illustration  recalls  the 


i8o      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

vivid  scenes  described  by  our  Lord  in  Matt.  xxv. 
31-46.  Here  are  the  needy  unhelped  and  un- 
ministered  to.  This  is  one  of  those  many  passages 
in  this  short  epistle  which  shows  us  how  far  the 
teaching  of  Christ  had  sunk  into  the  writer's  spirit. 
After  his  manner,  St.  James  gives  a  touch  of 
irony  to  the  picture.  The  good  wishes  are  so 
sympathetically  expressed.  There  is  no  passing 
by  on  the  other  side :  the  professed  Christian  on 
this  occasion  is  one  who  completely  realises  the 
whole  position ;  the  indigent  one  needs  food  and 
clothing  and  shelter  and  warmth :  there  is  no 
doubt  about  the  fact.  The  position  is  recognised, 
but  the  obligation,  which,  according  to  Christ's 
teaching,  this  knowledge  creates,  is  passed  on  to 
another.  He  speaks  in  this  wise :  "  I  am  sure, 
my  dear  friend,  that  you  sadly  need  help ;  there 
are  plenty  of  people  who  will  be  able  to  help  you  : 
I  do  sincerely  trust  that  you  will  receive  the  food 
and  clothing  you  need."  What  profit  is  there  in 
those  empty,  hypocritical  good  wishes  ?  This 
is  a  barbarousness  worse  than  the  barbarousness 
which  does  not  perceive  need ;  it  augurs  a  harder 
heart  to  come  and  look  upon  the  wounded  man 
and  then  go  on,  than  to  pass  by  on  the  other  side. 


FAITH  AND  WORKS  i8i 

Is  it  not  a  harder  heart  still  which  can  look  at 
misery  and  loudly  pity  it,  mocking  it  with  good 
wishes  ?  This  is  the  hypocrisy  of  faith.  It 
realises  God's  will  that  the  needy  should  be  cared 
for,  but  never  realises  that  itself  should  be  the 
instrument  of  that  will.  The  true  soul  is  ready 
to  play,  as  Browning  says,  "  not  the  helpless 
weakling,"  but  "  the  helpful  strength, 

That  captures  prey  and  saves  the  perishing. 
Sluggard  arise :  work,  eat,  then  feed  who  lack  ! 

{The  Eagle — Browning.) 

"  What  does  it  profit  ?  "  asks  St.  James.  What 
good  lies  in  empty  words  ?  What  profit  to  either 
him  that  hears  or  him  that  speaks  ?  To  the  one, 
the  words  are  mockery  ;  to  the  other,  the  fatal 
source  of  some  fresh  self-deception.  "  Even  so 
faith,  if  it  have  not  works,  is  dead  in  itself."  It 
proves  itself  to  be  dead,  because  no  living  force 
is  displayed  ;  it  proves  itself  dead  as  the  fruitless 
tree  reveals  its  own  uselessness.  Whatever  out- 
ward show  it  may  for  a  while  maintain  it  is  dead 
in  itself.  It  lacks  the  living  inward  force.  The 
faith  is  dead  in  itself — not  only  is  the  body  of 
religion  dead  in  this  case,  but  the  faith,  the  very 
heart  of  religious  life  itself,  is  dead ;  it  has  ceased 
to  beat. 


I  82       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

Ch.  ii.  iS-20.  Yea,  a  man  will  say,  Thou  hast  faith,  and 
I  have  works  :  shew  me  thy  faith  apart  from  thy  works,  and 
I  by  my  works  will  shew  thee  my  faith.  Thou  believest  tha 
God  is  one ;  thou  does.t  well  :  the  devils  also  believe  and 
shudder.  But  wilt  thou  know,  O  vain  man,  that  faith  apart 
from  works  is  barren  ? 

Known  by         In  his  argument  the  writer  now  puts  a  practical 

fruits. 

aspect  of  the  question  before  his  hearers.  The 
faith  which  does  not  reveal  itself  in  action  cannot 
prove  its  own  existence.  To  say  "  I  have  faith  " 
is  cheap  and  easy,  but  not  convincing.  Christ 
said,  **  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them " 
(Matt,  vii.  20),  but  how  are  they  to  be  known 
without  fruit  ?  To  boast  of  faith,  but  to  show  no 
practical  result,  is  vain  and  valueless.  Far  better 
is  the  man  who  was  going  about  doing  good,  but 
not  boasting  of  his  faith ;  such  a  man's  actions 
proved  his  faith. 

The  argument  is  taken  a  step  farther.  Belief 
may  be  orthodox,  while  the  character  is  evil. 
Merely  to  believe  in  one  God,  or  that  God  is  one, 
may  be  an  empty  intellectual  assent — so  entirely 
inoperative  in  the  life  that  the  spirit  displayed  in 
it  may  be  positively  malignant.  As  far  as  intel- 
lectual assent  to  an  article  of  belief  is  concerned, 
this  may  be  shared  by  demons,  who  perceive  the 


FAITH  AND  WORKS  183 

truth,  and  accept  the  truth,  but  only  as  an  uncom- 
fortable fact.     "  The  devils  believe  and  shudder." 

We  may  now  revievi^  the  aspects  of  valueless 
faith  as  set  out  by  St.  James.  Faith  which  cannot  \ 
rise  to  an  act  of  Christian  kindness  (verses  15,  16) 
is  dead  in  itself.  But  if  you  claim  that  you  still 
have  faith,  you  are  powerless  to  prove  it,  except 
by  works.  Call  it  faith  if  you  please ;  it  is  a 
barren  thing,  and  a  barren  tree  is  a  tree  which 
fails  of  the  purpose  of  its  existence.  If  you  still 
claim  that  you  have  faith,  perhaps  you  only  mean 
belief  in  an  intellectual  assent  to  an  article  of 
faith ;  but  this  again  is  valueless  in  the  sight  of 
heaven ;  it  is  but  a  barren  thing,  working  no 
moral  good  in  the  character.  God  has  no  place 
for  barren  things  in  His  kingdom.  (Compare 
John  XV,  6 ;  Luke  xiii.  6-9.) 

The  teaching  of  St.  James  here  is  full  of  warn- 
ing. It  is  so  easy  to  deceive  ourselves,  and  to 
confuse  good  wishes  with  goodness,  sentiment 
with  fact,  and  orthodoxy  with  living  faith.  The 
belief  that  "God  is  one"  was  the  pride  of  the 
Jews,  "  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one 
Lord,"  words  drawn  from  Deut.  vi.  4,  was  the 
announcement  of  that  portion  of  the  law  which 


iS4      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

the  Jew  was  expected  to  recite  morning  and 
evening.  This  fact  gives  emphasis  to  the  teaching 
of  St.  James.  Of  what  use  was  orthodoxy  of 
behef,  even  if  regularly  recited  day  after  day, 
unless  life  was  influenced  by  it  ?  Here,  too,  we 
recall  the  fact  that  our  Lord  cited  this  expression 
of  belief,  as  a  preface  to  His  declaration  of  the 
first  and  great  commandment.  The  first  is.  He 
said,  "  Hear,  O  Israel ;  the  Lord  our  God,  the 
Lord  is  one ;  and  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength." 
J  j  (Mark  xii.  29.)  Our  Lord  thus  supplied  the 
corrective  to  barren  orthodoxy.  It  was  vain  to 
hold  the  empty  faith  that  the  Lord  was  one,  unless 
that  faith  carried  with  it  such  a  deep,  real,  and 
intense  attachment  to  God  as  must  colour  and 
govern  the  whole  life.  In  its  ultimate  analysis 
true  faith  involves  love.  Bede  is  right  in  the 
distinction  he  draws — between  believing  a  person, 
i.e.  what  he  says — and  believing  a  person,  for  what 
he  is ;  which  is  believing  in  a  person.  We  may 
believe  certain  things  to  be  true ;  we  may  believe 
a  person  because  he  is  an  authority;  but  to 
believe  in  a  person  implies  some  sympathy  and 


FAITH  AND  WORKS  185 

affection,  some  partnership,  as  it  were,  in  his 
nature.  In  this  last  alone  is  true  faith.  This  is 
the  faith  which  St.  Paul  extols ;  it  is  confidence 
in  the  character  of  God ;  it  is  a  spiritual  grasp 
upon  what  He  is ;  it  is  a  trust  which  can  rejoice 
in  tribulation ;  it  is  a  faith  which  works  by  love. 
None  other  is  the  faith  which  St.  James  insists 
on,  only  he  approaches  the  question  from  the 
other  side.  St.  Paul  insists  that  we  should  first 
secure  the  seed,  the  good  seed ;  all  else  will 
follow,  growth,  flower,  fruit.  St.  James  starts  at 
the  other  end,  and  says,  "  No  fruit,  therefore  no 
growth ;  no  growth,  therefore  no  life ;  no  life, 
therefore  no  source  of  life;  no  seed."  The 
Apostle  Paul  is  the  sower  selecting  his  seed  ;  St. 
James  is  the  farmer  visiting  and  inspecting  his 
plants. 

St.  Augustine  puts  the  difference  between  the 
genuine  and  the  surface-belief  thus,  "  What  so 
great  a  thing  is  it,  if  thou  sayest,  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God  ?  Peter  said  it  and  was  answered, 
*  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona.'  The  devils 
said  it  and  heard,  '  Hold  your  peace,'  The  word 
is  one  and  the  same ;  but  the  Lord  tests  not  the 
flower,  but  the  root,"     On  which  we  may  note 


i86       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

that  Simon  Peter's  faith  was  deeper  than  a  faith 
of  earth,  of  flesh  and  blood ;  it  was  a  faith  of 
spiritual  attachment. 

That  orthodoxy  may  co-exist  with  malignity  of 
character  we  know  too  well, 

We  all  have  known 


Good  kings  who  disembowelled  for  a  tax, 
Good  popes  who  brought  all  good  to  jeopardy. 
Good  Christians  who  sate  still  in  easy  chairs 
And  damned  the  general  world  for  standing  up. 

We  need  not  wonder  that  St.  James  should  break 
out  into  expostulation.  "Wilt  thou  know,  O  vain 
man,  that  faith  apart  from  works  is  barren  ? " 
The  man  thus  addressed  is,  of  course,  imaginary 
or  typical.  He  is  a  vain  man — i.e.,  empty  (the 
word  is  the  equivalent  of  Raca)  (Matt.  v.  22). 
The  man  is  empty  as  his  religion  is  profitless. 
His  character  is  empty  ;  his  faith  is  idle,  or  barren. 
The  word  used  here  is  the  same  used  in  2  Peter 
i.  8,  where  after  the  powers  of  Christian  life — 
faith,  virtue,  knowledge,  temperance,  patience, 
godliness,  brotherly  love,  love — have  been 
enumerated  the  writer  says.  Where  these 
abound,  "they  make  you  to  be  not  idle,  nor 
unfruitful."   It  is  against  a  strengthless,  worthless. 


FAITH  AND  WORKS  187 

lifeless  form  of  faith  that  St.  James  enters  his 
protest. 

Ch.  ii.  21-26.  Was  not  Abraham  our  father  justified  by 
works,  in  that  he  offered  up  Isaac  his  son  upon  the  altar  ? 
Thou  seest  that  faith  wrought  with  his  works,  and  by  works 
was  faith  made  perfect ;  and  the  scripture  was  fulfilled 
which  saith,  And  Abraham  believed  God,  and  it  was  reckoned 
unto  him  for  righteousness  ;  and  he  was  called  the  friend  of 
God.  Ye  see  that  by  works  a  man  is  justified,  and  not  only 
by  faith.  And  in  like  manner  was  not  also  Rahab  the  harlot 
justified  by  works,  in  that  she  received  the  messengers,  and 
sent  them  out  another  way  ?  For  as  the  body  apart  from 
the  spirit  is  dead,  even  so  faith  apart  from  works  is  dead. 

St,  James  now  turns  to  the  past,  and  from  the   inustia-i 

tions  of 

Story  of  Israel  selects  two  examples  as  test  cases  this  prin- 
ciple, 
of  his  position.     One  is  a  case  drawn  from  the 

chosen  people ;  the  other  example  is  from  the  circle 
of  the  world  outside.  Abraham  is  the  Hebrew 
type  he  selects ;  Rahab  is  not  of  Israel. 

The  case  of  Abraham.  He  gives  Abraham  the 
title,  "  Our  father,"  common  among  the  Jews  (com- 
pare Luke  xvi.  24  and  Rom.  iv.  i).  The  case  is  a 
conclusive  one  to  the  Jew.  The  life  and  conduct 
of  Abraham,  the  father  ot  the  race,  thus  consti- 
tuted a  final  appeal.  We  realise  the  weight  of  his 
name  in  Jewish  thought  as  we  read  the  New  Tes- 


i88      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

lament.  St.  Paul  makes  him  a  turning-point  in 
his  argument  (Rom.  iv.  i  and  Gal.  iii.  7).  The 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  devotes  no 
fewer  than  fourteen  verses  in  his  great  historic 
picture  of  the  power  of  faith  to  the  case  of  Abra- 
ham (Heb.  xi.  8-21).  The  power  of  the  very 
name  of  Abraham  made  it  natural,  I  had  almost 
said  indispensable,  that  St.  James  should  be  able 
to  show  that  faith  in  Abraham's  case  was  no  inert 
sentiment  or  dead  orthodoxy,  but  a  living  and 
active  force. 

He  takes  the  incident  of  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac. 
It  could  have  been  no  dead  or  otiose  thing  which 
led  to  such  an  act  of  self-surrender  as  this.  Abra- 
ham showed  faith  in  going  forth  from  his  country 
(Heb.  xi.  8-17);  in  his  confidence  that  Isaac 
would  be  born  (Rom.  iv.  17-21)  ;  but  the  sacrifice 
of  Isaac  is  felt  both  by  St.  James  and  the  author  of 
the  Hebrews  to  be  the  climax  test.  It  was  the 
giving  up  of  what  he  loved  and  cherished  and  in 
which  he  saw  the  earnest  of  a  great  future.  Such 
an  action,  St.  James  says,  shows  faith  co-operating 
with  works,  and  works  establishing  faith.  St. 
James  touches  an  important  truth.  Doing  perfects 
theory ;  action  completes  faith  : 


FAITH  AND  WORKS  189 

What  to  thought  a  doubt  may  prove, 
That  an  action  may  remove  : 
Thus  by  doing  you  shall  know 
What  it  is  you  have  to  do. 

Compare  John  vii.  17.  Translate  ''thought  "  into 
"action"  and  you  get  "conviction."  Inaction, 
disposition  and  will  are  united.  Action  alone  is 
not  enough.  Sentiment  or  disposition  alone  is  not 
enough.  Both  must  combine.  Right  disposition 
must  express  itself  in  right  conduct.  Then  the 
whole  nature  is  brought  into  play.  A  man  so  ani- 
mated and  so  acting  for  right  is  in  sympathy  with 
the  divine  purpose  :  he  may  be  called,  as  Abraham 
was,  the  Friend  of  God.  The  reference  is  to  Isaiah 
xli.  8,  and  perhaps  2  Chron.  xx.  7.  The  name 
Khalil  Allah,  the  friend  of  God,  or  more  shortly  El 
Khalil,  has  among  the  Arabs  practically  super- 
seded the  name  Abraham. 

The  case  of  Rahab.  It  is  as  if  St.  James,  wish- 
ing to  estabhsh  the  general  truth  of  his  argument, 
passed  from  the  crucial  Jewish  case  of  Abraham  to 
the  familiar  case  of  an  outsider  like  Rahab.  Her 
faith,  too,  showed  itself  in  action.  She  was  con- 
vinced that  the  righteous  God  was  with  Israel,  and 
her  conviction  displayed  itself  in  active  service ' 
she  hid  and  protected  the  lives  of  the  spies.     We 


I90      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

should  read  the  expression  of  her  faith  given  in 
Joshua  (ii.  9-13). 

The  conclusion  drawn  by  St.  James  is :  "  As 
the  body  apart  from  the  spirit  is  dead,  even  so  faith 
apart  from  work  is  dead."  One  would  have  thought 
that  works,  deeds,  were  the  embodiment  of  faith, 
faith  being  the  animating  principle  of  the  action. 
But  St,  James  reverses  this.  The  image,  however, 
becomes  clear  if  we  recall  the  dead  orthodoxy  of 
which  we  spoke.  He  called  it  dead,  for  it  showed 
none  of  the  signs  of  life  ;  there  was  neither  breath 
nor  movement.  In  contrast  to  this  he  places  faith, 
like  a  living  and  active  thing — the  trust  and  con- 
viction which  follows  God,  and  works  for  God — a 
power  which  cannot  be  inactive  because  it  is  alive, 
and  is  known  to  be  alive  because  it  is  active. 


CHAPTER  VII 

TONGUE  WISDOM  AND  TRUE  WISDOM 
Ch.  iii.  i-end, 
St.  James   set  before  his   hearers   a   lofty  con-  Tongrne 

wisdom 

ception  of  Hfe.  He  saw  that  men  were  in  danger  and  true 
of  mistaking  the  accidents  of  hfe  for  its  reahty. 
He  noticed  how  much  men  valued  the  mere 
raiment  of  existence  while  the  abiding  powers  of 
life  were  neglected.  Of  what  use  would  life  be 
to  men  if  they  thus  snatched  at  the  shadow  of 
things  and  missed  the  substance  ?  Under  the 
influence  of  this  thought,  he  urged  men  not  to 
think  over  much  of  wealth  and  poverty,  not  to 
mistake  sentiments  for  actions,  or  emotions  for 
character.  In  the  same  spirit  he  now  warns  them 
against  the  snares  of  talk,  the  small  ambition  of 
setting  everybody  right.  Thus  he  attacks  the 
evils  which  follow  the  uncontrolled  use  of  the 
tongue.  To  this  the  whole  of  the  third  chapter 
of  his  Epistle  is  devoted. 


192       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 
We  may  summarise  it  thus  : 

Drift  of  the        Eagcrness   to   teach,    and   the   empty   talk   to 

chapter. 

which  this  desire  leads  are  not  good.  If  character 
is  the  end  of  life,  and  the  purpose  of  religion,  we 
must  needs  be  careful  lest  the  opportunity  of 
volubility  destroy  robustness  of  character.  In 
short,  chatter  is  not  character,  and  chatter  in- 
dulged in  dissipates  the  energies  which  might  be 
applied  in  developing  nobility  of  character.  A 
bridled  tongue  shows  a  strong  character ;  for 
the  tongue  often  outruns  thought,  and  can  defy 
the  will.  Be  therefore  good  herdsmen  of  your 
speech.  Let  will  and  wisdom  guide.  The  un- 
curbed tongue  is  like  a  fire.  It  is  a  fierce 
untamable  thing.  Out  of  it  may  flow  evil  as 
well  as  good.  It  is  like  a  spring  which  now 
gives  forth  poison,  and  now  gracious  and  health- 
giving  waters.  It  is  needful  to  get  at  the  sources 
of  the  spring.  Wisdom,  true  wisdom  should  be 
at  the  back  of  our  life.  Wisdom,  not  mere 
intellectual  power,  but  wisdom  of  an  ethical 
sort.  Wisdom,  which  is  a  healthy  evolution  of 
harmonised  qualities,  fortifies  character  and 
controls   talk.     It  is  a  wisdom  of  self-restraint, 


TRUE  ^VISDOM  193 

which  is  meek  and  not  ambitious  of  the  pernicious 
brilliancy  of  talk  which  so  often  leads  to  envy 
and  strife.  It  is  a  wisdom  in  which  qualities  of 
purity  and  mercy  lead  on  to  righteousness  and 
peace. 

The  principle  insisted  on  is  a  very  simple 
one.  He  who  would  use  the  tongue  must  be  the 
master  of  the  tongue.  This  is  hard,  for  a  tamed 
tongue  means  a  tamed  man.  Bridle  the  mouth, 
and  3'OU  bridle  the  man.  Here  St.  James  intro- 
duces a  wealth  of  illustration.  The  bridle  (ver.  3)  ; 
the  rudder  (ver.  4)  ;  the  fire  (ver.  6)  ;  the  wild 
beast  (ver.  7) ;  the  strange  fountain  (ver.  11); 
the  fig,  the  olive,  the  vine  (ver.  12).  In  verses 
13-18  he  gives  the  picture  of  the  beneficent 
influences  of  true  wisdom. 

Be  not  many  teachers  (iii.  i).     There  is  here  a  Tongue 

mastery- 
touch  of  quiet  humour.      Do   not    many    of  you   is  true 

become  teachers.  Do  not  be  a  mob  of  teachers.  ™*^  ^'^^ 
The  ambition  of  being  called  Rabbi  (cf.  Matt,  xxiii. 
8)  is  glanced  at.  To  teach  requires  aptness,  fit- 
ness, not  merely  impetuosity  of  tongue.  And  after 
all  this  eagerness  to  teach  is  not  wise,  for  teaching 
increases  responsibility.     Be  not  many  teachers 

N 


194       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

knowing  that  we  shall  receive  greater  (heavier) 
condemnation.  Our  Lord  had  reminded  the 
teachers  of  His  day  that  they  would  receive  greater 
damnation  (Mark  xii.  38-40;  cf.  Matt.  vii.  15  and 
xxiii.  14).  Professor  Mayor  quotes  Pirke  Aboth  : 
**  Not  learning,  but  doing  is  the  groundwork,  and 
whoso  multiplies  words  occasions  sin."  (C/  Prov. 
X.  19.) 

"  For  in  many  things  we  all  stumble  "  (ver.  2). 
The  arrangement  of  the  words  causes  ambiguity. 
The  meaning  is,  "  we  all  of  us  much  and  often- 
times offend."  The  final  word  "all"  implies  the 
frequency  and  the  enveloping  character  of  the  of- 
fending, we  are  often  and  all-offending;  as  we  some- 
times say,  "  you  are  all  wrong  !  "  The  test  of  the 
man,  however,  is  the  tongue.  Not  only  is  the 
tongue  the  source  of  evil  to  others,  and  therefore 
the  teacher  accepts  great  responsibility,  but  the 
ability  to  govern  the  tongue  is  a  test  of  character, 
an  evidence  of  self-control.  "  If  any  man  stumble 
not  in  word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  (Jtclcois)  man, 
and  able  also  to  bridle  the  whole  body."  On  the 
power  of  the  tongue  we  may  compare  Christ's 
words,  "By  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and 
by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned."   (Matt.  xii. 


TRUE  WISDOM  195 

Sy  ;  cf.  Matt.  XV.  1 1.)  Tongue  mastery  is  complete 
master3^  It  is  like  the  mastery  over  the  ship  which 
he  has  who  holds  the  rudder.  It  is,  if  not  the 
possession,  the  sign  of  the  possession  of  the  key 
of  the  situation. 


Ch.  iii.  3. — Now  if  we  put  the  horses'  bridles  into  their 
mouths,  that  they  may  obey  us,  we  turn  about  their  whole 
ody  also. 

The  use  of  the  word  "  bridle  "  starts  an  image  The 
in  the  writer's  mind  ;  he  follows  up  the  thought,  thrt^ongue. 
and  his  imagination  seizing  on  other  illustrations, 
he  is  led  to  depict  the  good  which  comes  from  a 
governed    tongue,    and    the   evil    which  may  be 
wrought  by  the  reckless  one. 

We  have  the  good  set  forth  in  two  illustrations 
— the  horse  and  its  bridle,  and  the  ship  and  its 
rudder.  The  horse  and  its  bridle.  There  is 
a  certain  quaint  touch  of  humour  in  reminding  his 
hearers  that  they  put  bridles  into  the  mouths  of 
horses.  Can  man  who  puts  a  bridle  into  his  horse's 
mouth  put  none  into  his  own  ?  The  force  of  the 
illustration,  however,  lies  in  the  fact  that  when  the 
bridle  is  in  the  horse's  mouth,  the  whole  body  of 


196      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

the  horse  is  under  control.  It  is  the  power  of 
government,  so  to  speak.  It  is  the  same  with  the 
rudder  of  the  ship.  The  huge  mass  of  the  ship 
obeys  the  rudder.  Without  this  power  of  govern- 
ment, the  ship  is  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind  and 
wave.  "  Behold,  the  ships  also,  though  they  are 
so  great  and  are  driven  by  rough  winds,  are  yet 
turned  about  by  a  very  small  rudder,  whither  the 
impulse  of  the  steersman  willeth  "  (ver.  4).  The 
rudder  is  not  only  the  power  of  government;  it  is 
the  means  of  safety.  It  and  it  alone  carries  the 
ship  in  safety  through  peril  of  storm.  The  rule 
over  the  tongue  in  like  manner  implies  the  power 
to  govern  the  whole  nature.  The  parallel  is  com- 
plete :  the  tongue,  like  the  rudder,  is  small ;  like  the 
rudder  it  can  do  great  things.  So  "  the  tongue, 
also,  is  a  little  member,  and  boasteth  great  things  " 
(ver.  5).  Self-government  thus  occupies  a  high 
place  in  St.  James'  thoughts.  He  likes  a  well- 
centred  man;  he  dislikes  the  double-minded  man, 
unstable  in  all  his  ways  (i.  8)  ;  he  dislikes  a  passion- 
driven  man,  or  a  tongue-ruled  man.  He  desires 
to  see  in  Christian  men  the  dignity  of  self-control ; 
he  wishes  them  to  show  themselves  royal  in  the 
world,  bearing  themselves  with  the  dignity  of  the 


TRUE  WISDOM  197 

well-skilled  rider,  or  experienced  helmsman.  To 
be  at  the  mercy  of  one's  tongue  is  to  betray  the 
lack  of  this  self-government,  and  so,  to  lose 
natural  dignity.  It  is  worse.  It  is  to  be  the  source 
of  evil.  He  turns,  therefore,  to  the  evil  which  may 
be  wrought  by  the  ungoverned  tongue.  "  Little  !  " 
he  seems  to  say,  "did  I  call  the  tongue  little  ?"  Yes, 
but  little  things  may  work  great  mischief.  "Behold 
how  much  wood  is  kindled  by  how  small  a  fire  " 
(ver.  5).  A  spark  may  set  a  whole  forest  ablaze. 
"And  the  tongue  is  a  fire"  (ver.  6).  The  illus- 
trations of  this  are  beyond  number.  Who  starts 
a  rumour  may  undo  a  kingdom !  Who  repeats 
heedlessly  an  imperfectly  heard  sentence  may  ruin 
a  life  by  destroying  a  reputation  !  We  may  recall 
the  School  for  Scandal,  with  its  crowd  of  gossips, 
ready  maliciously  to  interpret,  as  Pope  says, 

Motions,  looks  and  eyes  ; 
At  every  word  a  reputation  dies. 

No  wonder  the  Apostle  likened  the  tongue  to  fire, 
/3;sdiich  cruel,  inexorable,  and  irresponsible,  turns 
the  fairest  growths  into  a  wilderness  of  ashes.  A 
fire  is  the  tongue,  yes,  more — "  the  world  of 
iniquity  among  our  members  is  the  tongue,  which 
defileth  the  whole  body,  and  setteth  on  fire  the 


tqS      wisdom  of  JAMES  THE  JUST 

wheel  of  nature,  and  is  set  on  fire  by  hell "  (ver.  6). 
It  is  the  unruly  tongue  which  is  thus  described. 
The  tongue  may  play  a  noble  part ;  it  may  be  set 
on  fire  by  a  heavenly  fire  (Acts  ii.  3,  Is.  vi.  6, 
Jer.  V.  14) ;  it  is  well  to  remember  this,  for  the 
lesson  which  the  contrast  suggests.  Fire  moves ; 
it  seizes  on  all  and  reduces  all  to  dust ;  it  is  fierce 
and  destructive.  The  phrase  "  the  wheel  of 
nature  "  supplies  a  vivid  image ;  the  fire  spreads 
from  the  axle  to  the  outermost  edge,  and  thus 
makes  a  revolving  circle  of  flame,  carrying 
destruction  in  all  directions.  This  indicates  the 
disastrous  power  of  the  tongue  upon  human 
society.  The  little  Kosmos  of  the  tongue  inflames 
the  great  round  of  human  existence.  "  Their 
tongue,"  said  the  Psalmist,  "  goeth  through  all  the 
world  "  (Ps.  Ixxiii.  9).  "  It  is  set  on  fire  of  hell." 
We  can  picture  this  quiet,  self-restrained  Apostle, 
listening  to  the  viperish  tongues,  and  feeling  that 
only  hell  could  start  them  on  their  wicked  and 
wanton  course.  "  Hell — Gehenna."  The  image 
of  Hinnom  rises  before  him.  He  seizes  upon  it. 
Only  from  the  worst  sources  can  this  riot  of 
destructiveness  arise ;  it  is  not  only  wild,  but  it 
is  ruthless  and  malignant. 


TRUE  WISDOM  igg 

Ch.  iii.  7-13.  For  every  kind  of  beasts  and  birds,  of  creep- 
ing things  and  things  in  the  sea,  is  tamed,  and  hath  been 
tamed  by  mankind  ;  but  the  tongue  can  no  man  tame ;  it  is 
a  restless  evil,  it  is  full  of  deadly  poison.  Therewith  bless  we 
the  Lord  and  Father ;  and  therewith  curse  we  men,  which 
are  made  after  the  likeness  of  God  :  out  of  the  same  mouth 
Cometh  forth  blessing  and  cursing.  My  brethren,  these  things 
ought  not  so  to  be.  Doth  the  fountain  send  forth  from  the 
same  opening  sweet  water  and  bitter  ?  Can  a  fig-tree,  my 
brethren,  yield  olives,  or  a  vine  figs  ?  Neither  can  salt  water 
yield  sweet. 

St.  James  has  said  that  the  man  who  tamed  his  The  tongue 

cannot  be 

tongue  was  a  "  perfect  man "  (ver.  2),  now  he  tamed, 
says,  "The  tongue  can  no  man  tame."  All  kinds 
of  creatures,  he  reminds  his  readers,  have  been 
tamed  by  mankind.  This  is  an  interesting  state- 
ment ;  it  shows  that  the  custom  of  taming  animals 
was  common  in  St.  James'  da}'.  We  must  not 
take  the  statement  too  literally,  or  interpret  it  to 
mean  that  every  creature  or  kind  of  creature  had 
been  tamed.  The  writer  rather  means  that 
broadly  speaking  the  nature  of  all  creatures  is 
open  to  man's  control.  This  as  a  general  state- 
ment is  true.  The  exceptional  aspect  of  the 
case  is  stated  in  Heb.  ii.  8:  "We  see  not  yet  all 
things  put  under  him  (man) " ;  the  words  are  r- 
comment  on  Ps.  viii.  6.    "  Thou  hast  put  all  things 


200      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

under  his  (man's)  feet."  In  the  verse  before  us 
however  St.  James,  to  heighten  our  sense  of  the 
uncontrolled  character  of  the  mischief-making 
tongue,  points  to  the  taming  of  wild  animals,  not 
as  a  new  thing,  but  as  a  well-known  fact.  The 
nature  of  the  beast,  he  says,  is  tamed  by  the 
nature  which  is  human,  but  no  one  is  able  to  tame 
the  tongue — "  no  one  of  men."  In  other  words 
the  discipline  of  the  tongue  is  beyond  man's 
power.  Men  may  refrain  their  tongue  while 
others  are  at  hand  (Ps.  xxxix.  1-4);  prudence, 
self-interest,  even  the  desire  to  avoid  offence,  may 
enable  a  man  to  be  silent,  but  at  the  last  the  fire 
will  burn,  and  he  will  speak  with  his  tongue. 
The  sacred  writer  thus  agrees  with  the  classical 
writers  who  called  the  tongue  cffrena — unbridled. 
I  It  is,  says  St.  James,  a  restless  evil;  malorum 
fecunda  parens — the  prolific  parent  of  ills.  It 
is,  says  our  writer,  full  of  deadly  poison,  and  our 
memories  are  carried  back  to  the  complaint  of  the 
Psalmist :  "  Adder's  poison  is  under  their  lips." 
(Ps.  cxl.  3.)  "  They  go  astray  .  .  .  speaking  lies; 
their  poison  is  like  the  poison  of  a  serpent." 
(Ps.  Iviii.  3.)  Restless  is  the  evil  tongue,  restless 
like  a  wild  beast,  like  the  lion  roaring  for  his  prey, 


TRUE  WISDOM  201 

restless  for  fresh  mischief,  unhappy  till  it  has 
found  new  material  for  gossip.  How  full  of  evil 
it  is  must  be  measured  not  alone  by  the  words 
spoken,  but,  as  Professor  Mayor  reminds  us,  by 
the  echoes  which  words  evoke.  "  However  a 
man  may  learn  to  control  his  own  tongue,  these 
echoes  are  beyond  all  human  power."  We  recall 
Shakespeare's  picture  of  Rumour  entering  painted 
full  of  tongues  and  crying  : 

Open  your  ears  ;   for  which  of  j'ou  will  stop 
The  vent  of  hearing  when  loud  Rumour  speaks  ? 
I,  from  the  orient  to  the  drooping  west, 
Making  the  wind  my  post-horse,  still  unfold 
The  acts  commenced  on  this  ball  of  earth  ; 
Upon  my  tongues  continual  slanders  ride, 
The  which  in  every  language  I  pronounce. 
Stuffing  the  ears  of  men  with  false  reports. 

Flenry  IV.,  2nd  pt. 

The  tongue  is  not  only  mischievous,  but  it  puts 
to  shame  the  manhood  of  its  owner.  One  feature 
of  manhood  is  consistency.  Respect  grows  for  a 
life  animated  by  principle  and  therefore  consistent 
and  coherent.  But  the  tongue  works  inconsis- 
tency ;  now  it  blesses  God ;  now  it  slanders  God's 
image — man.  Here  is  the  weakness  of  a  divided 
character.     In  all  nature  we  expect  to  find  the 


202      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

fulfilment  of  some  clear  end  or  purpose.  We 
expect  from  the  spring,  water  of  a  consistent 
^  quality  ;  from  the  vine,  grapes  ;  from  the  fig-tree, 
figs.  Our  expectation,  founded  on  experience,  is 
an  expectation  of  fidelity  in  nature.  We  do  not 
look  for  variableness  in  fountain  or  tree.  It  is 
not  the  function  of  salt  water  to  yield  sweet,  or 
of  the  fig-tree  to  yield  olives,  or  of  the  vine,  figs. 
These  things  are  faithful  and  true  to  their  nature. 
But  man's  tongue  appears  to  be  "to  one  thing 
constant  never."  In  reckless  irresponsibility,  it 
is  equally  facile  in  blessing  and  cursing,  and  this 
being  so  its  benediction  and  its  curse  are  equally 
worthless,  for  they  betray  an  unbalanced, 
incoherent  nature.  Where  nature  sets  the 
example  of  fidelity  to  purpose,  these  things,  these 
inconsistencies  of  speech,  these  outbursts  of 
passion  and  ill-humour,  are  unworthy  in  our  God- 
made  human  nature  ;  "  these  things  ought  not  so 
to  be."  The  latent  appeal  is  to  the  heavenly 
source  of  our  being.  The  argument  is  from  the 
true  divine  relationship  between  God  and  man  ; 
it  is  common  in  the  Bible,  especially  in  the  New 
Testament.  Man  is  made  in  the  likeness  of  God, 
i.e.^  he  is  capable  of   moral   resemblance  to  his 


TRUE  WISDOM  203 

maker.  His  blood  is  not  to  be  shed,  because  he 
is  made  in  God's  image  (Gen.  ix.  6).  Compare 
Prov.  xiv,  31,  xxxii.  2  ;  Luke  xi.  13;  Matt.  xxv. 
34-45  ;  I  John  iv.  20.  The  inconsistency  St. 
James  rebukes  is  an  inconsistency  in  the  man 
himself  who  blesses  God.  To  bless  God  implies 
some  participation  of  God's  spirit,  since  how  can 
he  bless  God  who  has  no  sympathy  with  God, 
and  how  can  he  have  sympathy  with  God's  nature 
who  curses  man  whom  God  made  and  loves. 
(Compare  Numb,  xxiii.  8.) 


Ch.  iii.  13-18.  Who  is  wise  and  understanding  among  you  ? 
let  him  show  by  his  good  life  his  works  in  meekness  of  wisdom . 
But  if  ye  have  bitter  jealousy  and  faction  in  your  heart,  glory 
not  and  lie  not  against  the  truth.  This  wisdom  is  not  a 
wisdom  that  cometh  down  from  above,  but  is  earthly,  sen- 
sual, devilish.  For  where  jealousy  and  faction  are,  there  is 
confusion  and  every  vile  deed.  But  the  wisdom  that  is  from 
above  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  easy  to  be  intreated, 
full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  variance,  without 
hypocrisy.  And  the  fruit  of  righteousness  is  sown  in  peace 
for  them  that  make  peace. 

St.  James  makes  an  appeal  to  those  possessed  The  appeal 

to  wisdom. 

of  wise  and  understanding  spirits.  He  is  earnest 
for  practical  and  real  religion ;  he  desires  a 
religion  of  deeds  not  words ;  a  faith  held  in  a  true 


204      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

spirit,  not  dependent  on  worldly  weapons.  Hence 
he  compacts  his  thoughts  into  the  above  appeal. 
The  fiery,  talkative  method  is  not  the  method  of 
Christ  ;  the  Spirit  of  Christ  is  a  controlling  spirit ; 
it  perfects  man  by  its  all-dominating  influence. 
Where  it  dwells,  man  will  show  by  his  good  life 
his  works  in  meekness  of  wisdom. 

At  this  point  St.  James  touches  the  difference 
between  religion  and  philosophy.  Men  have 
asked  whether  in  the  conduct  of  life  religion 
or  philosophy  is  to  prevail.  All  agree  that  for 
life  wisdom  is  needed  ;  but  what  is  wisdom  ?  Is 
it  an  intellectual  force  or  a  moral  disposition  ? 
True  wisdom,  says  St.  James,  is  a  moral  basis  of 
action,  not  a  speculative  theory  ;  it  is  a  disposition 
of  the  soul,  not  a  doctrine  of  the  mind. 

In  dealing  with  this  question  St.  James  keeps 
in  view  the  contrast  between  words  and  deeds. 
"  Let  him  show  by  his  good  life,  his  works " 
(verse  13).  Let  also  the  moral  basis  of  his  action 
be  right.  Let  it  not  spring  out  of  faction  and 
jealousy,  but  be  seen  in  meekness  of  wisdom. 
All  affect  wisdom  :  jealousy  and  faction  have  their 
policy,  which  if  it  be  wisdom  at  all  is  a  wisdom 
from  beneath,  which  calls  into  play  all  the  base 


TRUE  WISDOM  205 

elements  of  our  nature,  and  is  "  earthly,  sen- 
sual, devilish."  The  word  rendered  "  strife  "  in  the 
Authorised  Version  and  "  faction  "  in  the  Revised 
is  allied  to  the  idea  of  a  hireling.  The  aroma  of 
this  hireling-idea  clings  to  the  word.  The  spirit 
of  faction  is  largely  the  hireling  spirit  ;  there  is  a 
good  deal  of  self — self-interest  or  self-glorification 
in  it ;  it  works  from  the  lower,  not  from  the 
higher  motive.  If  this  ill  spirit  works  in  you, 
says  the  writer,  glory  not.  Don't  think  that  zeal 
for  your  cause  or  your  party  is  always  good  zeal 
or  a  cause  of  glory  ;  it  is  often  treachery  to  truth. 
Lie  not  then  against  truth  by  this  factious  spirit. 
The  teaching  reflects  Christ's  teaching  (Matt.  vii. 
1-7),  where  our  Lord  rebuked  the  zeal  of  those 
who  were  eager  to  set  a  brother  right,  but  forgot 
the  beam  in  their  own  eye. 

Whatever  wisdom  may  be  pretended  by  such  Contrasted 
impetuous  zealots,  "  Not  is  this  (such  is  the  order 
of  the  words)  "  the  wisdom  descending  from 
above."  On  the  contrary  it  is  earthly,  not 
heavenly.  Further  it  is  sensual  (psychical)  not 
spiritual.  Compare  Jude  19,  "  Sensual,  having  ^  | 
not   the    spirit,"   and   i    Cor.    ii.    10-14.     "The 


i/ 


206       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

natural  (psychical)  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  spirit  of  God."  The  contrast  is  between 
the  wisdom  which  teems  with  passion  and  the 
wisdom  which  is  in  harmony  with  the  spiritual 
order.  But  according  to  St.  James  it  is  worse  than 
earthly  and  sensual,  it  is  demoniacal.  By  yielding 
to  the  lower,  men  sink  towards  the  lowest.  There 
seems  to  be  a  downward  gradation ;  the  earthly 
impulse  becomes  a  passionate  eagerness,  and  this 
becomes  transformed  into  a  demoniacal  deliberate- 
ness.  Compare  the  parable  of  the  seven  spirits 
more  wicked  than  the  first,  where  sins  of  impulse 
develop  into  sins  of  choice  (Luke  xi.  24-26). 
Where  such  evil  forces  are  let  loose,  the  result 
is  "confusion  and  every  vile  deed."  There  is 
confusion  ;  there  is  no  safe  standing  place ;  the 
word  (confusion)  is  used  of  the  unstable  man  (i.  8), 
and  of  the  restless  and  unquiet  tongue  (iii.  8). 
God,  says  St.  Paul,  is  not  a  God  of  confusion  (the 
same  word  is  used  (i  Cor.  xiv.  33)  but  of  peace. 
His  is  a  world  of  order  not  of  chaos ;  men  may 
rest  securely  where  he  rules,  but  the  evil  forces 
described  upset  the  order  and  make  for  instability. 
St.  James  gives  (verse  17)  as  a  contrast  the 
picture  of   the   true    wisdom.      It    is  first,  pure. 


-     TRUE  WISDOM  207 

This  is  natural,  because  purity  of  soul  is  the 
window  through  which  men  may  see  God  (Matt.  v. 
8),  and  to  know  God  is  the  highest  wisdom,  seeing 
that  He  is  our  very  Hfe  (John  xvii.  3).  Then 
peaceable.  St.  James  follows  His  master's  order 
(Matt.  V.  9).  The  pure  heart  sees  God ;  the 
peaceable  disposition  is  seen  to  be  the  Son  of  God. 
Gentleness  follows  ;  the  word  is  something  more 
than  gentle,  it  suggests  the  forbearance  of  the 
nature  which  is  great  enough  not  to  push  and 
struggle  for  its  rights.  It  is  the  true  "  sweet 
reasonableness"  of  Matthew  Arnold.  It  is  gracious 
considerateness  in  a  judge,  as  we  see  from  its  use 
in  Acts  xxiv.  4.  Self  is  out  of  sight  where  this 
gentleness  is ;  it  is  the  disposition  of  the  gentle- 
man with  his  self-restraint,  forbearance,  and 
magnanimity.  "  Easy  to  be  entreated,"  it  is  not 
hard  and  stiff" ;  it  is  prompt  to  hear,  ready  hearted; 
not  resenting  authority  where  authority  exists ; 
not  viewing  every  superior  as  an  enemy.  "  It  is 
full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits."  The  tongue  was 
likened  to  the  serpent,  discharging  poison  (iii.  8). 
The  heavenly  wisdom  is  charged  with  a  secret 
power,  but  it  is  mercy  which  flows  from  it.  It  is 
lull,  not  of  venom,  but  of  kindness,  of  good  fruits. 


2o8      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

It  is,  moreover,  free  from  all  ignoble  doubt  and 
self-deception;  it  is  "without  variance" — an 
ambiguous  word — St.  James  means,  I  think,  that 
it  is  without  the  dubiousness  of  unworthy  hesi- 
tation, it  is  whole-hearted.  It  is  large-minded, 
and  merciful,  and  it  is  free  from  the  vacillations 
which  arise  when  men,  ordinarily  right-minded, 
find  that  their  interests  are  involved  in  their 
judgments  ;  it  avoids,  therefore,  inconsistencies 
of  conduct.  It  is  also  "without  hypocrisy."  As 
it  is  free  from  unworthy  doubt,  it  is  free  also 
from  that  self-deception  which  believes  that  it  is 
governed  by  right,  when  it  is  supporting  wrong. 
It  possesses  a  clear  and  unfeigned  spirit.  Compare 
I  Pet.  i.  22,  I  Tim.  i.  5. 

St.  James  closes  with  a  picture  of  results. 
Confusion  and  evil-working  resulted  from  the 
influence  of  the  lower  wisdom.  The  heavenly 
wisdom  has  its  harvest,  viz.,  righteousness;  that 
is,  a  result  which  is  not  chaos,  but  stability  and 
order.  Right  must  be  sought  righteously.  Good 
sought  by  an  evil  wisdom  ends  in  evil ;  for  right 
may  be  done  wrongly.  Those  who  possess  the 
heavenly  wisdom  have  faith  in  the  divine  order  ; 
they  will  not  be   impatient,  or  take   short   cuts, 


TRUE  WISDOM  209 

breaking  God's  laws ;  they  have  their  Master's 
example  (Matt.  iv.  8-1 1).  To  such  the  harvest 
comes  at  length.  They  may  sow,  often  in  tears. 
To  them  comes  the  first  fruit,  "peace  for  thenv 
who  make  peace."  It  is  sown ;  and  therefore^ 
not  reaped  at  once.  Like  the  light  which  is 
sown  for  the  righteous,  it  will  come  forth  by  the 
law  which  nourishes  good  and  destroys  evil. 
All  which  is  not  God-planted  will  be  rooted  up.  ■ 
Earthly  wisdom  may  win  an  immediate  result ; 
for  earthly  things  are  made ;  heavenly  things 
grow,  they  are  the  product  of  law  and  of  time ; 
but  for  this  reason  also  they  are  abiding,  because 
they  belong  to  the  great  order  of  the  things  unseen, 
which,  though  often  unrealised,  unappreciated,  and 
unappropriated  by  men,  are  yet  eternal. 


iCHAPTER   VIII 

PASSION  AND  TRAYER 
Ch,  iv.  1-6, 

The  con-    (  In  stud3'ing  this  chapter  we  must  bear  in  mind  the 

text  \ 

initial  thought  of  the  Epistle,  The  end  of  life's 
discipline  is  character :  the  circumstances  of  life 
may  become  instruments  to  this  end.  If  we 
accept  them  with  this  view,  in  other  words,  if  we 
have  faith  in  the  ultimate  purpose  of  God  and  in 
His  love,  then  all  things  work  for  good.  This 
means  that  we  accept  His  will,  and  endeavour  to 
identify  ourselves  with  His  purpose.  Whoso  does 
this  abandons  the  spirit  of  bargain  which  so  enters 
into  the  fibre  of  false  religion.  Contentment  with 
what  God  orders  follows,  for  how  can  faith  be  dis- 
contented without  ceasing  to  be  faith  ?  Content- 
ment does  not  strive  for  unlawful  mastery  or  for 
the  acquisition  of  anything  against  God's  will.  But 
when  the   soul   does    not  possess   this  spiritual 


PASSION  AND  PRAYER  211 

quality,  but  is  set  on  earthly  gain,  then  discord 
(iv.  i)  arises  out  of  angry  desire:  confusion 
and  violence  follow  (iv.  2).  Prayer  in  any  true 
sense  ceases  :  it  is  inverted  :  it  becomes  the  effort 
to  make  God  will  what  we  will :  it  knows  not  "  Thy 
will  be  done  "  (iv.  3).  We  fall  into  the  camp  of 
worldliness  which  is  at  war  with  God  (iv.  4,  5) : 
yet  Me  is  ever  ready  to  help,  and  He  is  gracious 
to  those  who  seek  Him  in  lowliness  and  love 
(iv.  6). 

Whence  come  wars  and  whence  come  fightings  among 
you  ?  Come  they  not  hence,  even  of  your  pleasures,  that 
war  in  your  members  ? — Ch.  iv,  i. 

In  commencing  a  fresh  passage,  St.  James  fre-  The  impo- 
tence of 
quently  uses  the  friendly  address,  "  Brethren  "  or  passion. 

"Beloved  Brethren"  (i.  2,  16,  19;  ii.  i,  5  ;  14,  iii. 

I,  10,  12  ;  iv.  II  ;  V.  7,  9,  10,  12,  19),  but  in  the 

present  instance  he  omits  it ;  yet  it  is  to  be  noticed 

that  after  this  omission,  he  uses  the  tender  phrase 

"  Brethren  "  with  greater  frequency  than  before. 

His  earnestness  led  him  to  severity,  and  in  the 

reaction  of  feeling  he  becomes  more  tender. 

The  evil  which  St.  James  speaks  of  is  the  evil  of 

feuds.    He  traces  these  to  their  origin  :  he  appeals 

to  the  reasonable  judgment  of  his  hearers.     Is  he 


212       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

not  right  in  attributing  this  evil  to  selfish  love  of 
pleasure  ?  Whence  come  wars  and  fightings  ?  Is 
it  not  obvious  that  these  outward  conflicts  have 
their  cause  within :  the  war  between  the  love  of 
right  and  the  love  of  pleasure,  between  flesh  and 
spirit  as  St.  Paul  would  describe  it,  is  the  occasion 
of  unbrotherly  strife — prolonged  feuds  (wars)  and 
sudden  outbursts  (fightings).  There  is  no  need  to 
prove  the  harmony  of  St.  James'  view  with  that  of 
His  Master  and  his  brethren  in  teaching.  The 
higher  impulses  are  choked  by  the  lower :  the 
lower  like  ill-growths  war  against  the  good  seed :  so 
Christ  teaches  (Matt.  xiii.  22).  Fleshly  lusts  war 
against  the  soul  (i  Pet.  ii.  11)  :  such  is  St.  Peter's 
view.  (Compare  Titus  ii.  12,  iii.  3,  and  i  John  ii. 
16.)     Desire  indulged  breeds  discord. 

It  breeds  also  disappointment.  Notice  the  re- 
frain, if  we  may  so  speak,  in  the  Apostle's  utter- 
ance :  "  Ye  have  not  "  :  "  ye  cannot  obtain  "  :  "  ye 
have  not " — no  real  satisfaction  results  from  the 
uncurbed  desire  or  the  violence  and  quarrels  to 
which  it  gives  rise. 

This  becomes  clearer  if  we  arrange  the  words 
of  verse  2  thus : 


PASSION  AND  PRAYER  213 

Ye  lust,  and  have  not. 

Ye  kill,  and  covet,  and  cannot  obtain. 

Ye  fight  and  war  :  ye  ha\-e  not. 

The  desire  is  strong,  but  it  is  unsatisfied. 
Violence  follows  :  desire  grows  in  ardour,  but  still 
fails  of  satisfaction ;  then  under  the  tyranny  of 
desire  scruples  go  to  the  wind.  In  this  analysis 
St,  James  shows  a  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
Desire  disappointed  runs  to  violence,  but  still  no 
satisfaction  is  reached,  even  though,  like  Ahab,  ^ 
we  have  killed  and  taken  possession.  We  have 
but  whetted  the  edge  of  passion  :  with  a  stimu- 
lated passion  of  acquisition,  we  lose  the  capacity 
of  satisfaction.  The  initial  mistake  lies  in  the  false 
idea  that  satisfaction  can  come  through  posses- 
sion :  not  what  the  hand  can  grasp,  but  only  that 
which  can  hold  the  heart,  can  satisfy.  "There 
is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  beside  Thee,"  was 
the  Psalmist's  cry.  In  God,  not  in  earth,  is  satis- 
faction. It  only  is  found  by  those  who  enter  into 
fellowship  with  God.  Hence  St.  James  rightly  God  alone 
says,  "Ye  have  not — because  ye  ask  not."    Yet  to  ^^^'■^^"s^e 

-'    '  '^  from  vain 

ask  is  not  enough.    Communion  with  God  means,  if  desire, 
it  is  to  be  real,  some  community  of  spirit  with  God.  i 
If  the  mind  is  set  on  vain  pleasures,  and  prayer  is 


2  14       WISDOM  OK  JAMES  TPIE  JUST 

the  desperate  resource  of  one  who  wishes  to  make 
God  the  procurer  of  his  wishes,  then  no  answer 
can  be  expected.  Prayer  is  not  pra3'er,  unless  we 
recognise  the  divine  wisdom,  and  identify  ourselves 
with  the  divine  order.  We  must  desire  the  things 
which  God  commands.  "  Ye  ask  and  receive  not, 
because  ye  ask  amiss  that  ye  may  spend  it  on  your 
pleasures."  Twice  St.  James  refers  to  the  promise, 
"  Ask  and  ye  shall  receive."  **  Ye  have  not,  because 
ye  ask  not,"  he  says.  He  means  **  Ye  have  not,  you 
have  forgotten  Him  who  said,  'Ask  and  ye  shall 
receive.'  The  promise  seems  perhaps  untrue  to 
you,  for  you  may  plead  that  you  ask  and  receive 
not.  But  your  asking  is  not  a  true  asking."  There 
is  a  change  in  voice,  between  the  first  "  ask  "  and 
the  second.  There  is  a  suggestion  of  self-reflec- 
tion. "  You  ask,  and  not  without  a  certain  earnest- 
ness, but  you  may  ask  earnestly  yet  wrongly." 
Prayer  thus  may  fail,  because  it  lacks  resignation 
to  God's  will,  or  because  it  is  degrading  a  spiritual 
vehicle  to  carnal  ends,  or  because  it  is  charged  with 
a  spirit  wholly  alien  to  God.  The  man  who  would 
pray  aright  must  be  one  who  has  mastered  Christ's 
words — "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His 
righteousness."     To  such   a  man  all   things  are 


PASSION  AND  PRAYER  215 

possible — "All  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you." 

We  must  realise  how  vitiating  is  the  influence 
of  the  self-seeking  spirit,  if  we  are  to  understand 
the  Apostle's  exclamation :  *' Ye  adulteresses,  know 
ye  not  that  the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity 
with  God.  Whosoever  therefore  would  be  a  friend 
of  the  world  maketh  himself  an  enemy  of  God." 
God  is  the  true  master  of  the  soul.  To  attach  the 
soul  to  anything  less  is  to  be  unfaithful  to  a  sacred 
bond.  The  image  is  common.  Israel  was  married 
to  God  (Is.  Ivii.  3-9  ;  Jer.  iii.  20  ;  Ezekiel  xvi.  30- 
38;  Hos.  i.  and  ii.) :  the  bride  is  the  Lamb's  wife 
(Rev.  xxi.  9).  (Compare  Eph.  v.  25-33,  Rom.  vii, 
2-4.)  The  idea  which  is  illustrated  is  that  the  heart 
and  soul  belong  to  God.  He  loves  us,  but  our  love 
wanders  away  from  the  true  Lord  of  the  soul.  We 
can  never  fulfil  our  function  without  Him.  Our 
lives  will  be  barren  of  God :  we  shall  bring  forth 
no  fruit  to  Him.    (Compare  Matt.  vi.  24,  xiii.  22.) 

The  sixth  verse  presents  some  difficulty.  The 
authorised  version  seems  to  suggest  that  the  words, 
"  The  Spirit  that  dwelleth  in  us  lusteth  to  Envy," 
are  a  quotation  from  the  Scripture,  "  Do  ye  think 
that  the  Scripture  saith    in   vain  the  spirit  that 


2i6       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

dwelleth  in  us,"  &c.  ?  But  the  word  translated 
saith  is  rendered  in  the  revised  version  speaketh. 
If  we  end  the  sentence  with  words  "  speaketh  in 
vain^^  we  get  a  question  quite  coherent  with  what 
goes  before.  The  sense  then  would  be  :  "  There 
is  a  feud  between  the  world-spirit  and  the  heaven- 
spirit  :  there  can  be  no  compromise  between  the 
spirit  whose  afliection  is  for  the  world  and  the 
spirit  whose  affection  is  for  God  :  "  the  Scripture  is 
clear  and  firm  on  this  principle  ;  and  "  do  ye  think 
that  the  Scripture  speaketh  in  vain  ?  "  If  this  be 
the  drift,  as  I  think  it  is,  of  the  passage,  then  what 
follows  is  natural  enough.  There  can  be  no  com- 
promise between  the  world-loving  and  the  God- 
'  loving  spirit ;  and  moreover  the  spirit  is  revealed  in 
the  life  :  do  you  think  then  that  God,  who  desires  a 
good  and  true  life,  will  implant  in  us  an  evil  spirit 
of  envy,  the  parent  of  strife  and  hate  ?  "  Doth  the 
spirit  which  He  made  to  dwell  in  us  long  unto 
env5ing?  " 

In  His         "  But  He  giveth  more,  or  a  greater  grace."    So 

will  i*        -         _  .    .  .    .        T  T  • 

peace,  far  from  giving  such  a  spirit,  He  gives  a  nobler 
and  a  greater  one,  a  spirit  which  is  free  from  the 
selfishnesB  which  is  at  the  root  of  envy,  a  spirit 


PASSION  AND  PRAYER  217 

of  humility ;  for  liumility  lies  at  the  root  of  pro- 
gress, it  is  the  gateway  of  power  and  of  honour. 
**  God  resisteth  the  proud,  but   giveth  grace  to 
the  humble."     Thus  St.  James  brings  us  to  the 
threshold  of  heaven.     In  one  sense  his  letter  ends 
at  this  point ;  for  the  residue  of  the  Epistle  con- 
sists of  certain  practical  precepts,  necessary  and 
valuable  indeed  ;  but  tlie  argument,  if  we  may  use 
the  word   in  a  loose  sense,  ends  with  the  intro- 
duction of  the  need  of  humility.     In  reaching  this, 
he   shows    us,   as   I   have  said,  the    gateway  of 
heaven.     "Heaven,"  said  the  sage,  "is character," 
Christ   and    His    apostles   endorse   whatever   of 
truth    lies    in   the  phrase.     There  is   no  heaven 
apart  from   character.     "  Myself  am  Hell,"  said 
the  Fallen  Angel :  in  what  we  are  lie  the  germs 
of  happiness  or  misery,  our  heaven  or  our  hell. 
Only  when  we   are   in  harmony  with   the   divine 
order,  which  is  but  the  divine  will  expressed  in 
law,  is  happiness  possible.    Conformity  to  His  will 
is  in  itself  joy;  for  thus  we  fulfil  our  true  selves. 
St.  James    has  insisted  on  this  ;  he   has   taught 
that  God's  ways   in   purpose  and   in  providence 
are  good :  that  to  encounter  life's  vicissitudes  in 
this  faith  is  to  win  character,  and  thus  to  realise 


2i8       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

the  true  self.  But  this  heaven  which  is  closed  to 
the  proud  is  open  to  the  humble.  Humility  alone 
can  realise  that  God's  will  is  best.  Humility 
alone  finds  the  foot  of  the  ladder  which  goes  up 
through  darkness  to  God  ;  so  Christ  taught,  saying, 
"  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 


CHAPTER  IX 

RULE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE 
Ch.  iv.  7-12 
We  must  now  follow   the  precepts  with  which   He  resists 

'  '■  who  SUD- 

the  letter  closes.     The  first  rises  naturally  out  of  mits. 
the  mention  of  humility. 

Be  subject  therefore  unto  God  ;  but  resist  the  devil  and 
he  will  flee  from  you. — Ch.  iv.  7. 

Be    subject :     it    means — range     yourself    in     *^ 
rank    at   God's   command.       Being   then    in    the 
ranks  of  God,  you  stand  opposed  to  the  wicked 
one.     The  relation  between  submission  to  good  1 
and  resistance  to  evil  needs  noticing.     He  best  f 
resists  who  first  submits.     We  rule   by  obeying/ 
nature's  powers.     We  find  evil  stripped  of  power 
when  we  realise,  as  only  those  who  have  sub- 
mitted themselves  to  it  can  realise,  the  power  of 
Sfood. 


2  20       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

For  good  like  beauty,  has  a  magic  power  and, 
like  truth,  it  will  prevail.     So  poets  have  sung. 

Oh,  how  can  beauty  master  the  most  strong 
And  simple  truth  subdue  a\'enging  wrong. 

And  their  song  is  true,  for  good  is  eternal,  for 
God  is  good.  We  should  compare  the  tempta- 
tion and  victory  of  Christ  (Matt.  iv.). 

Draw   nigh   to  God,   and  He   will   draw   nigh   to  you. — 
Ch.  iv.  8. 

The  Apostle  asserts  that  there  is  a  corres- 
pondence between  God's  attitude  to  us  and 
ours  to  Him.  As  in  a  mirror  the  reflected  figure 
draws  nigh  to  us  as  we  draw  nigh  to  the  mirror, 
so  as  we  draw  near  to  truth,  does  truth  draw 
near  to  us.  The  principle  is  common  in  the  Bible. 
God  is  to  us  as  we  are  to  Him.  This  principle  is 
as  true  as  the  other  that  God  is  better  to  us  than 
we  are  to  Him.  This  only  means  that  though  His 
goodness  is  be3'ond  our  conception,  yet  our  per- 
ception of  His  goodness  depends  upon  the  good- 
ness of  our  perception.  If  we  draw  near,  i.e.,  if 
our  hearts  go  out  to  Him,  He  meets  us,  like  the 
father  in  the  parable.  He  sees  afar  off  the  return- 
ing footsteps  and  runs  to  meet  His  erring 
children.     (Compare  2  Chr.  xv.  2  and  xxiv.  20.) 


RULE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE        221 

The  drawing  near  must  be  with  the  heart  {Is.    , 
xxix.  13,  14  ;  Matt.  xv.  8).     Hence  St.  James  con- 
tinues : 

Cleanse  your  hands,  ye  sinners  ;  and  purify  your  hearts, 
ye  doubleminded. — Ch.  iv.  8. 

The  inner  springs  and  the  outward  instruments 

of  action  must  be  clean   and  clear.     The  heart  ^' 

must  be  single  ;  the  warnings  against  the  divided 

heart    are    frequent    (i.   8 ;    Hos.  x.  2  ;   Matt.  vi. 

23,  24,  and  xiii.  22).     In  this  last  passage,  Christ 

pictured  the  failure  of  fruit  because  of  the  divided 

affections  —the  cares  of  this  world  and  the  lust  of 

other  things.     In  these  passages  we  hear  the  echo 

of  Isaiah's  woe  (xxix.  13,  14). 

Be  afflicted,  and  mourn,  and  weep  ;  let  your  laughter  be 
turned  to  mourning,  and  your  joy  to  heaviness.— Ch.  iv.  9. 

The  exhortation  recalls  the  prophet's  cry  (Joel  True  re- 
i.  13,  14).  It  is  like  a  call  to  special  humilia-  p^"  *"'^** 
tion  and  fasting.  The  word  translated  "  Be 
afflicted  "  occurs  only  here  in  the  New  Testament. 
It  is  a  word  employed  to  denote  the  undergoing 
of  hardships.  It  is  not  a  call  to  a  fictitious  or 
forced  sorrow,  but  to  a  serious  self-discipline : 
it  recalls  St.  Paul's  declaration  that  he  kept 
his  body  in  subjection.     The  call  is  to  serious- 


222       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

ness  and  earnestness.  Joy  and  laughter  are 
in  tliemselves  harmless,  but  there  is  a  time  for 
everything.  When  evil  was  rampant,  and  the 
spirit  of  strife  and  of  selfish  greediness  revealed 
a  deterioration  of  moral  tone,  it  was  a  time  to  face 
facts,  not  to  laugh  them  away  :    to   take  up  life 

y seriously,  to  keep  severe  watch  over  self;  to 
forego  idle  laughter  and  empty  joy.  The  word 
rendered  "  heaviness "  is  ^unique  ;  it  occurs 
nowhere  else  in  the  Bible ;  it  expresses  the  idea 
of  one  who,  like  the  publican,  scarcely  dares  to 

,  look  up  (Luke  xviii.  13).  It  prepares  us  for  the 
exhortation  which  follows : 

Humble  yourselves  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and  He  shall 
exalt  you. — Ch.  iv.  10. 

St.  James  here,  as  St.  Peter  ( i  Pet.  v.  6),  echoes 
his  Master's  words  (Luke  xviii.  14;  c/".  also  xiv.  11). 
The  suggestion  of  the  downcast  eye  fitly  prepares 
the  way  for  this  reference  to  the  closing  words  of 
the  parable  of  the  Publican.  The  thought  of  the 
exaltation  of  the  lowly  occurs  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  Hannah's  song  (r  Sam.  ii.  i-io),  but  in 
Hannah's  thought,  the  triumphant  fact  that  the 
lowly  have  been  exalted  and  the  proud  abased  is 
uppermost    rather   than   the    spiritual    principle. 


RULE  THROUGH  OBEDIENCE         223 

The  exaltation  which  Christ  has  in  mind  is  not 
associated  with  a  half  worldly-minded  triumph 
over  an  enemy,  but  with  that  inward  spiritual 
elevation  which  fills  the  soul  when  it  comes  into 
harmony  with  the  will  and  thought  of  God.  Cf. 
"  He  shall  be  great  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord." 
Similarly  in  passages  like  Job.  xxii.  29  and  Prov. 
xxix.  23,  the  motive  of  prudence  is  felt  to  mix 
with  humility.  Such  humility  is  not  that  of  love's 
ready  self-surrender  for  service  sake.  It  is  only> 
in  Christ  that  we  reach  the  pure  ideal  of  humility^ 
(2  Cor.  viii.  9  ;  Phil.  ii.  7-9  ;  Heb.  ii.  9  and  xii.  2)  ;' 
for  the  only  true  humility  is  the  humility  of  love. 
■    Speak  not  one  against  another,  brethren. — Ch.  iv.  11. 

This  speaking  is  not  quite  identical  with  speaking  A&ainst 

.,       r  4.1  ..1  1      •<-  ■  c  '"^"'  there- 

evil  01   one  another,  tliough   it   may  sprmg  from   fore 

the  same    spirit.     It  is  more  like  what  is  called   q^^'"**^ 

"  running  a  man  down  "  :  it  is  the  spirit  of  envious 

disparagement,  the  judgment  of  prejudice,  not  of 

truth.     St.  James  says  that  this  disparagement  or 

judgment    of    a    brother    is    a  disparagement    or 

judgment  of  the  law.     The  law  is,  "  Thou  shalt 

love  thy  neighbour  as  thj'self."     To  violate   this 

law  is  to  act  as  though  the  law  were  a  mistake. 

We   become   in   effect   critics  of  the   law.     We 


224       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

abandon  the  position  of  those  who  desire  to  keep 
the  law.  In  making  ourselves  judges  of  men,  we 
make  ourselves  judges  of  the  law.  The  very 
power  of  understanding  the  law  depends  (as  Prof. 
Mayor  reminds  us)  on  obedience  (John  vii.  17). 
Without  obedience  we  lack  the  capacity  of 
criticism.  There  is  an  irony  characteristic  of 
St.  James  in  the  passage ;  but  characteristically 
also  St.  James  drops  into  deep  solemnity.  "  One 
only  is  the  lawgiver  and  judge."  He  is  judge  with 
power;  He  is  "able  to  save  and  to  destroy." 
We  should  compare  St.  Paul's  rebuke  of  those 
who  judged  their  brothers  (Rom.  xiv.  1-13),  and 
note  that,  like  St.  James,  he  thinks  of  the  God 
who  is  able  to  save ;  over  the  man  judged  by 
others  St.  Paul  throws  this  shield  (verse  4),  '*  The 
Lord  hath  power  to  make  him  stand."  Such  is 
the  power  of  Him  who,  as  St.  James  says,  is 
able  to  save.  On  the  usurping  of  God's  right 
of  judgment  compare  Prov,  xvii.  5,  and  the  apposite 
passage  from  Clement,  quoted  by  Prof.  Mayor : 
"  If  3^ou  seek  to  benefit  the  good  only  and  not  the 
bad,  you  undertake  to  perform  the  office  of  a 
judge,  and  not  of  kindness."    (Clem.  Hom.  xii.  26.) 


CHAPTER  X 

AGAINST  PRESUMPTION 
(Ch.  iv.  13-17  and  Ch.  v.  1-3) 

We    now   reach    the    caution    against    presump-  Against 

presump- 
tion.    We  must  remember  that  the  dispersion  of  tion. 

the  Jews  resulted  in  the  fact  that  the  Jew  had 

friends  or  relations  in  almost  every  land.     This 

and  their  commercial  instinct  made  them  travellers. 

The  words  of  St.  James  conjure  up  the  picture  of 

the  eager  and  sanguine  trader  sketching  out  his 

commercial  tour.     He  maps  out,  as  we  say,  the 

places  he  will  visit.     He  indicates  with  his  finger 

on  the  sketch-plan   this  or  that  town   which    he 

will  visit ;  he  announces  the  length  of  his  sojourn 

in  one  city  or  another.     All  is  so  full  of  the  spirit 

which  ignores  the  providence  of  God  that  St.  James 

breaks  into  rebuke : 

Go  to  now,  ye  that  say,  To-day  or  to-morrow  we  will  go 
into  this  city,  and  spend  a  year  there,  and  trade,  and  get 

P 


2  26       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

gain  :  whereas  ye  know  not  what  shall  be  on  the  morrow. — 
Ch.  iv.  13,  14. 

It  is  not  the  making  of  plans  which  He  rebukes, 
it  is  the  forget  fulness  of  God. 

The  Angel  of  death,  we  read,  told  Rabbi  Simeon, 
that  death's  office  was  to  slay  those  who.  boasted 
what  they  were  about  to  do.  How  should  frail 
man  boast,  whose  life  is  a  vapour,  evanescent  as 
the  breath  or  smoke  {cf.  Ps,  cii.  3),  seen  for  a 
moment,  then  gone. 
Glorying  in       The  aggravation  of  the  boasting  is  seen  in  the 

shame. 

total  absence  of  misgiving.  "  Ye  glory  in  5^our 
vauntings,"  says  the  apostle.  There  was  a  lack  of 
that  secondary  conscience  which  creates  misgivings 
when  the  power  of  the  primary  conscience  has 
been  deadened,  and  its  moral  sensibility  impaired. 
Such  men  glory  in  their  boasting  when  they  are 
full  of  reliance  on  their  smartness,  cleverness, 
skill,  or  luck.  They  are  not  only  sanguine,  but 
insolently  confident  of  their  success.  The  apostle 
closes  his  expostulation  with  reminding  them  that 
sin  lies  in  this  conduct.  Sin  is  not  merely  an  act 
done ;  it  is  an  act  omitted ;  it  is  more,  it  is  the 
setting  aside  of  moral  monitions.  When  a  man 
falls    away  from    all    high  and    reverent   habits, 


AGAINST  PRESUMPTION  227 

and  ignores  the  known  rule  of  right,  he  sins. 
We  may  compare  the  same  principle  as  expressed 
by  our  Lord  (Matt.  xxv.  31-46)  and  by  St,  Paul 
(Rom.  xiv.  23). 

St.  James  has  rebuked  the  presumption  which  Against 

a  subtler 

ignores  the  providence  of  God.  He  now  proceeds  presump- 
to  rebuke  the  presumption  which  assumes  that 
God's  laws  will  not  work.  When  we  become 
self-centred,  all  manner  of  evils  flock  around  us  ; 
and  the  chiefest  of  these  is  the  blindness  which 
betra3^s  us.  We  talk  as  though  we  could  com- 
mand time  and  events.  We  plan  out  our  affairs 
and  boastfully  anticipate  our  success.  This 
inflated  egotism  ignores  man's  frailty  and  God's 
providence.  "Ye  know  not  what  shall  be  on  the 
morrow."  The  same  egotistic  spirit  blinds  us  to 
the  working  of  the  divine  laws,  having  first  blinded 
us  to  simple  human  duty.  Selfish  greed  breeds 
indifference  to  the  well-being  of  others.  Lazarus 
at  the  gate  is  forgotten.  The  lawful  dues  of  the 
poor  are  left  undischarged.  Selfishness  accumu- 
lates and  grows  hard-hearted,  not  at  first  through 
cruelty,  but  through  pre-occupation  with  its  own 
interests.  Hence  arises  also  its  blindness  to  the 
inflexibly  righteous  order  of  God's  world,  and  the 


2  2S       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

presumption  which  imagines  that  the  laws  of  this 
order  will  not  work.  St.  James  sees  the  misery 
which  this  hardness  and  blindness  of  the  worldly 
spirit  inflicts  upon  men,  and  against  it  he  delivers 
the  impassioned  rebuke  with  which  this  chapter 
opens. 

Go  to  now,  ye  rich  ;    weep  and  howl  for  your  miseries 
which  are  coming  upon  you, — Ch.  v.  i. 

It  has  been  asked  whether  the  rich  men  thus 
addressed  were  professed  Christians  or  not.  I 
am  inclined  to  leave  the  question  unanswered. 
St.  James  seems  to  me  to  look  out  upon  the  world 
and  its  evils  with  a  wide  and  general  regard. 
The  spirit  of  his  Master  possesses  him,  and  he 
opposes  evil  wherever  he  sees  it.  Whether  the 
rich  were  followers  of  Christ  or  not,  the  prophet- 
heart  in  him  is  stirred,  and  he  writes  under  the 
influence  and  conviction  of  eternal  right.  There 
were  rich  men,  though  not  many  perhaps  in  the 
Christian  societ}'  (i.  id,  ii.  2  ;  r/.  i  Cor.  i.  26). 
The  worldly  spirit  had  shown  itself  among  the 
followers  of  Christ  (iv.  13),  and  this  must  have 
had  a  place  in  St.  James'  thoughts ;  but,  like 
the  prophets,  he  treats  the  matter  in  a  wide, 
universal  manner.     Wherever  and  among  whom- 


AGAINST  PRESUMPTION  229 

soever  the  worldly  spirit  reigns,  the  law  of  God  is 
inflexible  and  eternal. 

The   mills   of   God  grind   slowly,  but  they  grind  exceeding 
small. 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that  St.  James  first  announces  The  doom 

of  the 

the  doom  and  then  proclaims  the  sin.  Miseries  selfish. 
are  ready  to  fall  upon  these  selfish  rich.  Even 
already  the  tokens  of  doom  are  discernible.  "  Your 
riches  are  corrupted ; "  the  word  is  used  of  corn 
which  has  lost  its  vital  force  ;  "your garments  are 
moth-eaten  ;  your  gold  and  your  silver  are  rusted." 
The  apostle  expresses  vividly  a  simple  truth.  It 
is  the  vice  of  accumulations  that  they  so  often 
remain  profitless.  All  things  are  for  use.  What- 
ever we  have  which  cannot  be  turned  to  use  had 
better  be  parted  with.  Why  should  we  hinder  it 
from  accomplishing  its  end  ?  If  service  is  the 
law  for  all  things  {cf.  Is.  Iv.  10),  we  are  storing 
up  condemnation  for  ourselves  if  by  hoarding  we 
thwart  the  purpose  of  any  gift.  The  riches,  like 
seed,  might  have  been  sown  for  good.  The  unused 
garments  might  have  clothed  the  naked ;  the  gold 
and  silver  brightened  by  use.  The  rust,  i.e.^ 
the  evidence  of  the  unused  wealth,  is  in  itself  your 
condemnation.     The  rust  of  them  shall  be  for  a 


2  30       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

testimony  against  you  ;  and  more  than  a  testimony, 
it  shall  be  a  torment ;  it  "  shall  eat  your  flesh  as 
fire."  The  torment  comes  when  men  realise  the 
hell  which  they  have  prepared  for  themselves,  as 
Dives  found  his  torment  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  ministry  which  he  had  failed  to  accomplish. 
His  wealth  might  have  been  used  for  Lazarus. 
He  realises  that  only  Lazarus  can  cool  his  fiery 
lot,  and  he  thirsts  for  the  lost  opportunities 
(Luke  xvi.  23,  24).  All  are  treasuring  up  some- 
thing— ^joyous  and  refreshing  memories  (Luke  xii. 
21),  or  terrible  and  heart-eating  reproaches 
i  (Rom.  ii.  5).  This  thought  St.  James  expresses  : 
"You  have  laid  up  treasure  in  the  last  days." 
The  cruelty  St.  J  amcs,  after  this  vivid  declaration  of  doom 

selfish.         enlarges  on  the  sin  which  called  for  it. 

Behold,  the  hire  of  the  labourers  who  mowed  your  fields, 
which  is  of  j'ou  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth  out  :  and  the 
cries  of  them  that  reaped  have  entered  into  the  ears  of  the 
Lord  of  Sabaoth  (verse  4). 

The  labourers  are  the  labourers  in  the  field  :  the 
word  is  specially  used  of  husbandmen.  The 
principle  dealt  with  is,  however,  universal.  The 
labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.     Delay  of  payment 


AGAINST  PRESUMPTION  231 

is  a  species  of  cruelty,  especially  to  those  who, 
being  dependent  upon  daily  wages,  have  not 
command  of  credit.  The  law  of  Moses  required 
prompt  payment.  "At  his  day  thou  shalt  give 
him  his  hire,  neither  shall  the  sun  go  down  upon 
it ;  for  he  is  poor,  and  setteth  his  heart  upon  it : 
lest  he  cry  against  thee  unto  the  Lord,  and  it  be 
sin  unto  thee."  (Deut.  xxiv.  15  ;  cf.  Jer.  xxii.  13, 
Malachi  iii.  5.)  He  who  hears  the  cry  of  the 
defrauded  is  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  (an  expression 
used  in  the  New  Testament  only  here  and  in 
Rom.  ix.  29)  ;  the  reference  to  the  stars  or  hosts 
of  heaven  indicating  the  range  of  the  divine  power 
and  the  countless  messengers  ready  to  fulfil  His 
will.  The  sin  of  this  fraudulent  dela}^  is  aggra- 
vated by  the  ease  and  comfort  in  which  these  rich 
men  lived. 

Ye  have  lived  delicately  on  the  earth  and  taken  your 
pleasure  (verse  5). 

This  self-indulgent,  easeful  life  deadened  the 
humane  feelings.  We  may  compare  St.  Paul's 
judgment  about  the  influence  of  pleasure,  "She 
that  giveth  herself  to  pleasure  is  dead  while  she 
liveth  "  (i  Tim.  v.  6).     This  deadness  of  heart  is 


232       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

pictured  elsewhere  under  the  image  of  the  heart 
waxen  gross  as  the  overfed  wax  gross  (Matt. 
xiii.  15  ;  c/;  Ps.  Ixxiii.  7).  "  Ye  have  nourished 
your  hearts  in  a  day  of  slaughter,"  St.  James 
hkens  them  to  greedy  tyrants  :  they  are  hke  men 
who  knew  that  there  was  ample  to  be  had  and 
no  resistance  to  be  made.  But  as  the  picture 
grows  under  the  writer's  hand  it  assumes  another 
significance.  These  self-indulgent  men  are  as 
those  who  are  fattening  for  slaughter.  The  double 
thought  is  still  in  St.  James'  mind ;  the  inward 
spiritual  injury  arising  from  the  self-indulgent 
life  in  the  decay  of  all  better  feelings,  and  the 
outward  doom  which  awaits  those  who  are  being 
kept  for  the  shambles.  As  a  comment  on  the 
passage,  we  may  recall  what  Josephus  tells  us 
befell  such  men  in  the  siege  of  Jerusalem ;  for 
he  narrates  that  those  whose  bodies  showed  no 
sign  of  privation  were  tortured  to  make  them 
disclose  the  wealth  which  they  were  suspected 
of  concealing.  Such  men,  therefore,  were  in 
sorry  case  whether  they  deserted  the  city  or 
remained  in  it. 


AGAINST  PRESUMPTION  2t,z 

Ye  have  condemned,  ye  have  killed  the  righteous  one ; 
he  doth  not  resist  you. — Ch.  v.  6. 

The  sins  of  the  rich  hitherto  have  been  expressed 
in  general  language :  it  is  a  system  of  fraudulent 
heedlessness  and  cruel  heartlessness  which  the 
apostle  demands,  but  here  suddenly  we  have 
words  which  seem  to  point  to  a  particular  fact : 
the  singular  number  ("  the  righteous  one ")  is 
used.  Who  is  this  righteous  one  ?  Is  St.  James 
thinking  of  his  Master  ?  Is  Christ  the  righteous 
and  unresisting  one  wlio  has  been  killed  ?  Wc 
recall  the  picture  of  meekness  (Is.  liii.  7,  8  ;  i  Pet.  i. 
19,  20),  and  we  can  imagine  that  St.  James  by  a 
natural  turn  of  thought  sees  in  the  case  of  Christ 
the  concentrated  type  of  the  hostile  evil  spirit,  the 
filling  up  of  tlie  measure  of  wrong  (St.  Matt,  xxiii. 
29-36).  Or  are  the  words  an  interpolation  ? 
Their  abruptness  gives  colour  to  the  thought.  If 
an  interpolation,  were  they  added  to  the  letter  by 
a  faithful  admirer  and  friend  of  St.  James  after 
the  apostle's  death  ?  The  "  righteous  one  "  was, 
as  we  know,  the  epithet  applied  to  St.  James. 
"  The  righteous  one  prayeth  for  you "  are  the 
words  attributed  to  the  priest,  who  tried  to  save 
him.  If  the  words  are  not  an  interpolation  they 
are  curiously  anticipatory. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PATIENCE  IN  SPIRIT  AND  IN  WORD 
(Ch.  V,  7-12) 

Counsels  of  Sx.  James  passcs  from  denunciation  to  words  of 
consolation  and  counsel.  The  sufferers  needed 
support.  He  gives  it  in  one  word — patience — 
the  remedy  is  patience.  Everything  brings  its 
fruit  in  good  time.  Earth's  order  teaches  patience  : 
the  harvest  is  certain,  and  not  far  off.  Let  that 
patience  be  shown  not  only  in  dull  endurance,  but 
in  brotherly  consideration.  Patience  is  a  mark  of 
saintliness  now  as  it  was  of  old,  as  the  case  of 
Job  shows. 

"  Be  patient."  The  word  might  be  rendered 
long-tempered,  as  if  in  contrast  to  short-tempered  : 
it  is  not  the  word  corresponding  to  that  rendered 
patience  in  ch.  i.  3,  4,  which  gives  prominence  to 
the  enduring  qualit}' ;  the  word  here  brings  out 
the    idea    of    the    temper  shown    in    endurance. 


SPIRIT  AND  THE  WORD  235 

"  Stablish  your  hearts,"  adds  St.  James;  and 
rightly,  for  unstable  hearts  are  ever  impatient ; 
steadfastness  is  indispensable  in  trial  (iv.  8, 
i.  8  ;  I  Thess.  iii.  13;  i  Pet.  v.  10  ;  2  Pet.  iii.  17). 
The  encouragement  of  this  patience  and  steadfast- 
ness is  given  in  the  thought :  "  The  coming  of  the 
Lord  is  at  hand."  He  saw  signs  of  coming 
change :  the  existing  order  could  not  last  long. 
The  great  crisis  must  come.  Looking  back  we 
may  realise  that  to  the  men  of  that  day  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem  was  a  coming  of  the  Lord  in  judg- 
ment. Patience  was  the  remedy,  but  must  evince 
itself  in  a  kindly  self-restraint.  "  Murmur  not, 
brethren,  one  against  another,  that  ye  be  not 
judged ;  behold,  the  judge  standeth  before  the 
doors."  The  word  for  "  murmur  "  is  used  of  in- 
articulate utterances,  the  testy  sounds  which  betray 
irritability,  or  the  moans  and  sighs  which  express 
how  much  we  suffer,  or  wish  to  let  others  know 
that  we  suffer.  If  in  ch.  iv.  1 1  St.  James  cautioned 
his  hearers  not  to  speak  against  one  another,  he 
now  cautions  against  the  murmuring  spirit.  Even 
for  the  dissatisfied  and  querulous  spirit  there  is 
judgment.  As  we  murmur  we  know  not  how 
near  is  the  judgment  of  our  discontent.    Readiness 


Illustra- 
tions of 
patience. 


236      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

is  now  or  never.  The  man  who  is  going  to  get 
ready  is  never  ready.  Readiness  in  fact,  in  the 
true  Christian  meaning,  is  the  possession  of  a 
certain  disposition,  which  being  a  quality  of 
character  cannot  be  put  on  at  the  moment. 
Raiment  or  uniform  can  be  put  on  quickly  and  at 
command,  but  spiritual  readiness  is  a  matter  of 
the  soul,  is  the  result  of  habit,  a  product  of  soul- 
culture.  The  oil  cannot  be  bought  in  the  hour 
of  emergency.  The  loins  must  be  girt  ;  the  lamps 
ready ;  the  heart  must  be  habituated  to  the  dis- 
position of  Christ.  "If  any  man  have  not  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his  "  (Rom.  viii.  9) : 
no  other  will  be  ready  to  recognise  the  coming 
Christ  (Matt.  xxv.  1-14;  Luke  xii.  35-40). 

The  illustrations  given  by  the  writer  to  enforce 
the  lesson  of  patience  are  taken  from  nature  and 
history.  The  illustration  from  nature  is  that  of 
the  farmer  who  waits  confidently  for  the  harvest, 
relying  on  the  constancy  of  divine  laws.  No  less 
confidently  should  he  who  believes  in  a  righteous 
order  wait  for  the  manifestation  of  God's  rule  of 
right.  The  illustration  from  history  and  literature 
is  an  appeal  to  the  past.  Men  have  suffered,  men 
have  endured,  and  we  who  look  back  crown  them 


SPIRIT  AND  THE  WORD  237 

with  our  homage.  "Take,  brethren,  for  an 
example  of  suffering  and  of  patience,  the  prophets 
who  spake  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  Christ 
referred  to  the  persecution  of  the  prophets  (Matt. 
xxiii.  29-30).  Tlie  writer  of  the  letter  to  the 
Hebrews  gives  us  a  splendid  list  of  patient 
worthies  of  the  past  (Heb.  xi.).  Those  who  look 
back  on  the  heroes  who  encountered  suffering 
think  of  them  as  happy ;  for  they  have  endured 
to  the  end ;  they  are  to  us  as  men  who  have  con- 
quered. "  We  call  them  blessed  which  endured  " 
(verse  11).  St.  James  had  spoken  of  this  bless- 
ing at  the  beginning  of  his  letters  (i.  12);  he 
reverts  to  it  now :  then  he  spoke  of  the  blessing 
as  a  promise  ;  here  he  speaks  of  it  as  a  fact.  He 
is  speaking  in  the  spirit  of  his  Master.  The 
beatitudes  spoken  by  Christ  (Matt.  v.  10-12)  may 
have  become  proverbial  among  his  followers.  His 
example  had  enforced  and  illuminated  it  (i  Pet.  ii. 
20-24).  The  case  of  Job  is  brought  forward  as 
a  kind  of  classical  example,  with  the  view  not 
only  of  noting  his  patience,  but  also  of  bringing 
out  the  thought  of  the  triumphant  end.  Ye  **  have 
seen  the  end  of  the  Lord,  how  that  the  Lord  is  full 
of  pity,  and  merciful."     It  is  not  quite  the  material 


2  38      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

reparation,  as  it  were,  made  to  Job,  of  which 
St.  James  thinks ;  but  the  broad  fact  that  God 
who  tries  men  does  not  overtry  them.  His  mercy 
and  pity  iinderhe  and  overtake  all  trials. 


Ch.  V.  12.  But  above  all  things,  my  brethren,  swear  not, 
neither  by  the  heaven,  nor  by  the  earth,  nor  by  any  other 
oath  :  but  let  your  yea  be  yea,  and  your  nay,  nay  ;  that  ye  fall 
not  under  judgment. 

Swearing         fhe  precept  is  our  Lord's.     He  laid  down  the 

in  relation 

to  truth.  principle,  "  Swear  not  at  all."  (Matt.  v.  33-38.) 
His  teaching  was  in  contrast  to  the  prevailing 
practice,  which  based  itself  on  the  saying,  *'  Thou 
shalt  not  forswear  thyself,  but  shall  perform  unto 
the  Lord  thine  oaths."  The  oath  was  common, 
but  in  making  an  oath  the  Jew  avoided  the  use  of 
the  sacred  name  of  God  {cf.  Lev.  xxiv.  10-16). 
"  If  a  man  swear,  let  him  not  swear  by  God,  but 
by  the  earth,  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the 
heavens  "  (Philo).  Christ,  followed  by  St.  James, 
taught — Swear  not  at  all.  St.  James  introduces 
the  precept  with  a  special  emphasis,  "Above 
all  things  swear  not."  The  reason  for  this 
emphatic  tone  is  perhaps  to  be  found  in  the  temp- 


SPIRIT  AND  THE  WORD  239 

tations  to  which  the  Jews  were  exposed,  and  of 
which  this  epistle  gives  us  hints.  The  Jews  had 
commercial  instincts;  they  journeyed;  they  traded; 
they  would  be  tempted  sometimes  out  of  jealousy 
of  a  successful  rival  to  disparage  him  (iv.  11): 
they  would  be  tempted  to  build  too  much  on  their 
own  skill  and  ability,  filling  their  minds  with 
visions  of  success  (iv.  13-17);  they  would  be 
tempted  in  their  success  to  forget  the  claims  of 
the  poor  and  weak  (v.  1-7).  Equally  when 
failure  came  they  would  be  tempted  to  murmur, 
while  in  all  their  trade  bargainings  they  would  be 
tempted  to  strong  asseverations  and  impressive 
oaths,  and  the  truth  spoken  was  sometimes  in 
inverse  proportion  to  the  vehemence  or  strength 
of  the  oath.  Against  this  tendency,  St.  James 
says,  as  his  Master  did  :  "  Let  the  simple  truth  be 
enough ;  don't  embroider  it  with  oaths  by  heaven 
or  by  earth."  The  strong  oath  not  infrequently 
marks  the  untruthful  nature.  Language  which 
betrays  this  passionate  wish  to  convince  the  hearer 
may  betoken  the  consciousness  of  untruth. 

Swear  not  at  all — not  by  the  sacred  name  which  Christ's 
no  Jew  invokes,  nor  yet  by  any  of  the  lesser  oaths 
which  Jews  indulge  ;  let  simple  truth  suffice.  Christ 


240      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

in  enforcing  this  precept  reminded  his  hearers  that 
they  could  not  change  the  things,  even  the 
smallest,  by  which  the}^  swore  (Matt.  v.  36)  not 
even  the  hair  of  their  head  could  they  make  black 
or  white.  Does  He  not  by  this  remind  them  that 
things  are  just  what  they  are,  and  that  no 
swearing  will  make  them  dififerent,  and  even  so 
should  truth  be  regarded  as  a  thing  which  remains 
true  in  spite  of  hard  swearing  ?  He  who  looks 
upon  the  unchanging  order,  and  the  firm  throne 
of  God  will  be  content  that  truth  should  speak  her 
own  language,  and  will  let  yea  be  yea,  and  nay, 
na3\  '  Let  your  word  be  as  good  as  your  bond, 
your  statement  sufficient  without  summoning 
heaven  and  earth  to  witness  to  your  truth. 
Exercise  self-restraint  in  utterance.  Passion  and 
self-interest,  the  greed  of  the  eager  trader  will 
tempt  you  to  garnish  your  speech  with  oaths,  and 
will  thrust  you  over  the  sacred  boundary'  of  truth  ; 
so  let  your  yea  be  yea,  and  your  nay,  na}^  lest 
you  fall  under  judgment.*  We  may  note  how  once 
more  he  refers  to  the  snares  of  the  tongue. 
(Compare  iii.  1-12.) 


CHAPTER  XII 

GOD  AND  BROTHERLINESS 
Ch.  V.  13 — end. 
The    apostle,      though    taking    what    might    be  God  the 

,,     ,  ....  .   ,.p        ,.  ,      ,  changeless 

called  an  optimistic  view  of  liie   (1.  12)  does  not  refuge, 
deny  the  painful  experiences  of  life.     He  touches, 
as  he  closes  his  letter,  on  some  of  these  experiences 
and  points  to  fit  remedies.     Briefly  his  mode  of 
remedy  and  relief  is  to  turn  to  God  (v.  13-end). 

Is  any  among  you  suffering  ?  let  him  pray.  Is  any 
cheerful  ?  let  him  sing  praise.  Is  any  among  you  sick  ?  let 
him  call  for  the  elders  of  the  church  ;  and  let  them  pray  over 
him.^Ch.  V,  12,  14. 

One  test  of  disposition  and  character  is  found 
in  the  answer  to  the  question  :  Where  does  a 
man's  heart  turn  in  the  time  of  urgent  soirow  or 
joy  ?  Where  the  treasure  is,  there  the  heart 
turns ;  where  the   home,  there  fondly  turns  the 

Q 


242       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

untravelled  heart.  The  man  whose  dwelling 
is  in  God  (Ps.  xci.  i,  2)  turns  to  God.  In  need 
and  sickness  many  turn  Godward  who  do  not 
turn  to  Him  in  joy.  The  true  test,  therefore, 
is  not  where  does  instinct  or  necessity  drive  us 
but  where  at  all  times  do  we  habitually  turn  ? 
Therefore  St.  James  cites  both  sorrow  and  joy 
and  says  that  in  both  the  heart  should  turn  God- 
ward  ;  praise  no  less  than  prayer  is  natural  to  the 
godly  man.  In  verses  14,  15,  we  meet  a  passage 
which  has  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  con- 
troversy.   It  runs  thus : 


Use  of  oil.  Is  any  among  you  sick  ?  let  him  call  for  the  elders  of  the 
Church  ;  and  let  them  pray  over  him,  anointing  him  with  oil 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  :  and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save 
him  that  is  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up  ;  and  if  he 
have  committed  sins,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him. 

The  writer  had  just  pointed  to  prayer  as  suiting 
the  time  of  sorrow.  He  now  takes  a  case  of 
sickness;  here  too,  he  says,  it  is  fitting  to  resort 
to  prayer,  but  let  it  be  prayer  in  which  the  whole 
body  can  join.  '  Let  the  sick  man  call  for  the 
elders  of  the  Church  and  let  them  pray  over  him.' 

Thus  far  all  is  simple.    The  man  is  sick  :  prayer 


GOD  AND  BROTHERLINESS  243 

will  help  him.  When  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together,  Christ,  who  healed  and  helped  men,  will 
be  in  the  midst  of  them.  But  as  we  read  further, 
the  passage  becomes  difficult.  The  obscurity  lies 
in  the  words,  "Anointing  him  with  oil  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord."  We  must  keep  our  minds 
free  from  controversial  questions,  which  belong 
to  a  much  later  date.  We  must  weigh  the  passage 
as  it  stands,  and  not  allow  our  minds  to  be  confused 
by  later  controversies. 

The  elders  are  to  be  called  to  the  bedside  of 
the  sick  man.  Whatever  takes  place  is  to  take 
place  under  their  guidance.  The  early  Church 
possessed  gifts,  as  we  know.  The  indiscriminate 
and  unregulated  exercise  of  these  gifts  caused 
confusion.  Hence  St.  Paul's  attempt  to  regulate 
them  and  to  impress  upon  the  Christian  intelli- 
gence and  conscience  the  principle  of  general 
service  and  edification  which  ought  to  govern  their 
use  (i  Cor.  xii.-xiv.).  As  St.  Paul  dealt  with  gifts 
— like  the  gift  of  tongues — St.  James  deals  with  the 
gift  of  healing.  He  would  check  anything  like  a 
tumultuous  rush  of  eager,  perhaps  excited,  brethren 
into  the  sick  room.  It  is  in  harmony  with  his 
calm  and  sober  nature  that  he  should  give  this 


244      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

injunction.  The  methods  of  noisy  and  perhaps 
credulous  zealots  do  not  command  his  sympathy. 
He  believes  in  prayer,  and  he  gives  it  the  first 
place  in  his  precept ;  but  even  here  he  wishes  a 
sober  order  to  be  observed.  He  does  not  think  that 
disorder  is  essential  to  devotion.  Perhaps  he 
distrusts  these  gifts  in  some  cases ;  at  any  rate, 
he  feels  that  quiet  and  earnest  prayer  may  be  as 
efficacious.  Further,  he  will  neglect  no  means. 
Let  the  sick  man  be  anointed  with  oil.  This  is 
in  accord  with  the  medical  light  of  the  time,  which 
deemed  there  was  a  healing  virtue  in  oil.  We 
read  (Josephus :  "Wars  of  the  Jews,"  i.  33-35) 
that  it  was  used  by  the  doctors  in  Herod's  last 
illness.  "  The  physicians  thought  proper  to  bathe 
his  whole  body  in  warm  oil."  Other  testimonies 
to  the  medicinal  value  of  oil  meet  us  in  Pliny  and 
Galen.  It  was  used  by  the  disciples  of  Christ 
(Mark  vi.  13)  when  they  healed  the  sick.  It  is, 
therefore,  quite  clear  that  a  widespread  belief  in 
the  healing  powers  of  oil  existed,  and  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  it  was  in  consequence  of  this 
belief  that  the  oil  was  used. 
Supersti-  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 

fdrows         ^^^^^  ^^^  belief  in  the  healing  virtue  of  any  specific 


GOD  AND  BROTHERLINESS  245 

in  those  days  was  comparatively  unintelligent, 
it  was  more  like  the  faith  of  simple  and  unedu- 
cated people  in  certain  old  women's  remedies. 
There  was  little  scientific  medical  knowledge 
abroad.  The  line  which  divided  the  employment 
of  a  remedy  from  the  use  of  a  charm  was  very 
slight,  and  little  discrimination  would  popularly 
be  made  between  medicine  and  magic.  Hence  it 
easily  happened  that  what  was  once  used  as  a 
simple  remedy  might  later  be  only  used  as  a 
charm.  Conditions  change  and  knowledge  grows  ; 
new  remedies  may  be  discovered,  but  old  traditions 
linger,  and  belief  in  the  magical  properties  of 
certain  drugs  and  simples  continues.  It  would 
appear  from  the  after  history  that  this  happened 
in  the  case  of  oil. 

Once  it  was  a  remedy   recommended  by  the  Contrast 

with 

most  intelligent  physicians,  such  as  they  were ;  extreme 
but  soon  the  magical  notion  superseded  the 
medical.  St.  James  suggests  that  in  the  case  of 
sickness,  both  prayers  and  remedies  should  be 
employed.  In  the  age  of  Chrysostom  certain 
superstitious  notions  prevailed,  for  St.  Chr3'sostom 
speaks  of  oil  taken  from  the  tombs  of  martyrs  as 
a  remedy    for   drunkenness.      The   love   of  the 


246      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

magical  is  apparent  here,  and  later  it  expressed 
itself  in  the  mediaeval  practice  of  extreme  unction. 
For  in  extreme  unction  no  idea  of  the  medical 
properties  of  the  oil  finds  place ;  because  in  the 
Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  by  Pope 
Pius  IV.,  we  read  :  "  Nor  did  its  efficacy  arise 
from  any  natural  virtue  peculiar  to  oil ;  its 
efficacy  is  mystical,  having  been  instituted  to 
heal  the  maladies  of  the  soul,  rather  than  to  cure 
the  diseases  of  the  body  "  (Cat.  of  Council  of  Trent, 
translated  by  Prof.  Donovan,  of  Maynooth,  p.  298). 
The  difference  between  the  practice  of  extreme 
unction  and  the  directions  given  by  St.  James  is 
quite  evident.  With  St.  James  the  oil  is  for  the 
bodily  healing,  with  the  expectation  of  recovery ; 
in  extreme  unction  the  oil  is  for  spiritual  healing, 
and  is  generally  used  when  hope  of  recovery  is 
abandoned ;  when,  to  use  the  language  of  the 
Catechism  referred  to,  the  "  malady  is  such  as  to 
excite  apprehensions  of  approaching  dissolution  " 
(p.  299)- 


And  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  him  that  is  sick,  and 
the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up  ;  and  if  he  have  committed  sins, 
it  shall  be  forgiven  him. — Ch.  v.  15. 


(^.OD  AND  13R0THERLINESS  247 

It  is  evidently  of  bodily  healing  that  St.  James   Faith  and 

healing,  not 

speaks.  The  word  "save"  has  in  Christian  faith- 
parlance  become  so  closely  identified  with  spiritual 
experience  that  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  mind 
to  its  wider  sense  ;  but  it  is  used  frequently  in 
the  New  Testament  of  bodily  healing.  It  is  thus 
used  of  the  woman  with  the  issue  of  blood 
(Matt.  ix.  22);  of  Bartimaeus  (Mark  x.  52);  the 
disciples  use  it  in  the  hour  of  bodily  peril :  "  Lord, 
save  us,"  is  their  prayer  in  the  storm  on  the  lake. 
It  is  used  by  St.  James  here  in  the  same  sense. 
The  words,  "  The  Lord  shall  raise  him  up,"  leave 
no  doubt  on  this  point.  The  spiritual  aspect  he 
keeps  distinct :  see  next  clause.  The  passage  con- 
sidered fairly  affords  no  basis  for  the  practice  of 
extreme  unction  or  for  the  theory  of  faith-healing, 
as  it  is  called  ;  since  clearly  it  is  bodily  healing 
which  St.  James  has  in  view,  and  this  bodily  heal- 
ing he  does  not  expect  without  the  use  of  means. 
The  apostle  does  not  leave  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  sick  man  out  of  sight.  "  If  he  have 
committed  sins,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him."  The 
action  here  described  is  viewed  by  Professor  Hort 
as  expressing  the  fellowship  of  the  whole  body  of 
believers.     The  sick  man  belongs  to  the  brother- 


248       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

hood  :  his  ilhiess,  it  is  taken  for  granted,  will 
awaken  the  full  sympathy  of  all.  He  is  visited 
by  those  who  are  "expressly  called  not  simply 
'  the  elders,'  but  '  the  Elders  of  the  Ecclesia,'  in 
this,  as  in  other  ways,  the  vehicles  of  the  sympathy 
of  the  whole  brotherhood  ;  and  where  again  the 
reality  of  this  fraternal  relation  is  at  once  tested  and 
strengthened  not  only  b}^  mutual  intercession,  but 
by  mutual  confession  of  sins  "  (Ecclesia,  p.  221). 

St.  James  thinks  of  sickness  and  also  of  sins. 
We  know  how  closely  he  keeps  to  his  Master's 
teaching  ;  he  recalls,  no  doubt,  how  his  Lord  spoke 
to  the  paralytic  of  sin,  saying  to  him  first,  "  Thy 
sins  be  forgiven  thee,"  and  afterwards,  "Rise  up 
and  walk."  This  incident  of  the  Gospel  always 
appears  to  me  to  suggest  that  the  paralytic  owed 
his  illness  to  his  sinful  life.  It  was  not  sin 
generally  which  Christ  was  thinking  of,  but  the 
sins  which  had  brought  this  sufferer  low.  May 
not  the  same  thought  be  in  the  mind  of  St.  James? 
He  introduces  the  thought  hypothetically  ;  "  If  he 
have  committed  sins."  We  know  St.  James' view 
of  sin  generall}^,  "  In  many  things  we  all  stumble  " 
(iii.  2).  If  his  thought  here  were  of  sins 
generally,  he  would  hardly  speak  hypothetically; 


GOD  AND  BROTHERLINESS  249 

but  if  he  is  teaching,  as  we  suppose  his  Master 
did  in  the  case  mentioned,  of  special  sins,  the  "  if" 
which  he  uses  is  quite  natural. 


Confess  therefore  your  sins  one  to  another,  and  pray  one 
for  another,  that  ye  may  be  healed. — Ch.  v.  16. 

All  is  mutual  and  brotherly.  There  is  no  foun-  Confession, 
dation  here  for  the  practice  of  auricular  confes- 
sion, as  it  is  called.  This  is  acknowledged  by 
Cajetan.  The  custom  of  private  and  auricular 
confession  finds  no  sanction  in  the  primitive  or 
Catholic  practice.  "  These  opinions,"  as  Hooker 
says,  "have  youth  in  their  countenance:  antiquity 
knew  them  not "  (Eccl.  Bk.  vi.  ch.  iv.  14).  The 
great  change  in  this  matter  was  made  as  late  as 
I2i5,at  the  Fourth Lateran'Council/at  the  dictation 
of  Pope  Innocent  III.  Then  confession  of  sins 
once  a  3'ear  was  declared  to  be  obligatory.  Prior 
to  this,  confession  and  absolution  had  been  excep- 
tional, i.e.,  necessary  only  for  the  regaining  of 
communion  by  those  who  had  been  excommuni- 
cated. The  new  decree  treated  all  as  though  they 
were  excommunicated.  That  which  was  necessary 
for  regaining  communion  was  made  necessary  for 


y 

250      WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

retaining  it.  But  this  discussion  has  strictly  no 
place  here.  What  St.  James  suggests  is  mutual 
and  brotherly,  not  official  or  sacredotal.  It  is  to 
prayer  that  this  mutual  acknowledgment  is  to  lead. 
It  is  prayer  which  leads  to  healing.  We  may  note 
here  that  even  in  the  exceptional  cases  where  abso- 
lution was  deemed  necessary,  the  absolution  was 
in  the  form  of  a  prayer.  This  precatory  form, 
which  still  obtains  in  the  Eastern  Church,  con- 
tinued till  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  indi- 
cative form  was  introduced  in  the  Latin  Church. 
Power  of  The  thought  which  fills  St.  James'  mind  as  he 

closes  his  letter  is  the  power  of  prayer.  It  is  good 
and  helpful  by  the  sick  bed :  it  is  helpful  in  the 
healing  of  the  diseases  of  the  soul :  it  is  good 
where  it  is  united  :  it  is  good  when  it  is  the  prayer 
of  one  righteous  man. 


The  supplication  of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much  in  its 
working  (verse  16). 

Professor  Mayor  quotes  a  fine  saying  of  Rabbi 
Jehuda :  "  Poenitentia  potest  aliquid,  sed  preces 
possunt  omnia."  Penitence  can  do  something, 
but  prayer  can  do  all  things. 


prayer. 


GOD  AND  BROTH ERLINESS  251 

More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of. 

The  prayer,  however,  must  be  real  and  earnest. 
It  is  not  mere  suppHcation  unaccompanied  by  true, 
inward  desire.  The  word  rendered  "in  its  work- 
ing" (Revised  version)  stands  last  in  the  sentence  ; 
but  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  it  does  not  refer  so 
much  or  exclusively  to  tlie  results  of  prayer  as  to 
the  energising  force  which  works  through  and  out 
from  the  true  prayer.  There  were  half  possessed 
men  in  the  first  century — the  mediums  as  we  would 
call  them  to-day ;  and  it  is  thought  by  some  that 
St.  James  refers  to  those  who  are  known  by  the 
name  '  energumens ' :  the  word  he  uses  is  the  same. 
There  is  an  energising  divine  force  in  true  prayer, 
as  there  is  a  counterfeit  energising  power  in  the 
manifestations  which  degrade.  The  spirit  helpeth 
our  infirmities  (Rom.  viii.  26,  27)  with  an  ener- 
gising force  substituting  God's  will  for  our  own 
will — being  thus  victorious  in  the  soul  that  it  may 
become  victorious  in  the  world.  (Compare  Gen. 
xxxii.  28.)  The  example  of  Elijah  is  cited  by  St. 
James.  He  throws,  in  the  caution  which  strengthens 
also  his  argument,  "  Elijah  was  a  man  of  like  pas- 
sions with  us."  Wild  views  of  Elijah  were  held.   He 


2  52       WISDOM  OF  JAMES  THE  JUST 

was  in  effect  viewed  as  an  exceptional  being.  St. 
James  dwells  on  his  simple  humanity  ;  he  was  weak 
as  we  are,  and  yet  his  prayer  avajiled  ;  for  faith  is 
reliance  on  God,  and  God  is  near  to  all.  "  It 
rained  not  on  the  earth."  There  is  the  touch  of 
Oriental  exaggeration  or  of  poetical  completeness 
here.  The  drought  was  only  partial.  "  Three 
years  and  six  months,"  is  the  period  given  by 
St.  James  ;  it  was  the  accepted  tradition  (see  Luke 
iv.  25  ;  cf.  Rev.  xi.  6).  The  story  of  the  coming 
again  of  the  rain  is  given  in  i  Kings  xviii. 

Regene-  ^'■-  J^^^^s  closcs  with  a  passage  which  sets  before 

rating:  ^g  jj^g  Wide  good  which  can  be  achieved  by  simple 

influence.  °  j  ^ 

influence.  Men  are  not  only  individuals  :  they  are 
centres  of  influence.  So  a  bad  man  is  a  bad  influ- 
ence. To  turn  a  man  from  evil  to  good  is  to 
transform  an  evil  influence  into  a  good  one.  It  is 
like  transforming  a  stream  of  poisonous  water  into 
one  of  fertilising  and  refreshing  power.  It  is  not 
only  therefore  that  good  is  done  to  the  man,  but 
good  is  also  done  to  the  world.  The  soul  is  not 
only  saved  from  the  death  towards  which  it  is 
rushing ;  but  in  addition  a  multitude  of  sins  is 
covered, 


GOD  AND  BROTHERLINESS  253 

My  brethren,  if  any  among  you  do  err  from  the  truth,  and 
one  convert  him  ;  let  him  know,  that  he  which  converteth  a 
sinner  from  the  error  of  his  way  shall  save  a  soul  from  death, 
and  shall  cover  a  multitude  of  sins  (verses  19,  20). 


"  If  any  do  err  from  the  truth."  It  is  not  here  a 
question,  of  course,  of  truth  in  the  sense  of  mere 
orthodoxy  of  opinion.  The  errors  and  heresies 
to  which  Apostles  refer  were  more  serious  than 
matters  of  opinion  :  heresies  were  reckoned  with 
works  of  the  flesh  ;  practical  iniquities,  as  Jeremy 
Taylor  says,  were  ranked  with  it.  The  erring 
from  the  truth  was  the  slipping  away  from  the 
life  of  Christ,  who  was  the  truth.  The  recovery 
of  such  an  one  was  a  recovery  into  the  ways  of 
light.  The  true  life  was  a  life  in  love.  To  walk 
in  love  was  to  fulfil  all  right.  To  lapse  from  this 
was  to  become  a  source  of  sorrow  and  danger. 
To  restore  the  lapsed  was  not  only  to  save  a  soul, 
but  to  benefit  mankind. 

THE    END 


BS2785  .C297 

'"he  wisdom  of  James  the  Just, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00014  0691 


